Category: National

(WASHINGTON) — At the U.S. Agency for International Development this week, as a team from the Department of Government Efficiency quietly worked to dismantle the aid agency, those who hadn’t already been locked out of its Washington headquarters busied themselves with work they never imagined doing — shutting it down.

“We feel like it’s closing time at the store and we’re the ones left to turn off the lights,” one career official told ABC News. “There’s lots of tears, lots of heartbreak.”

Normal day-to-day work ceased earlier in the week, when the Trump administration announced plans to place all direct-hire employees on leave starting Friday, leaving career officials to focus on the logistical hurdles of recalling thousands of overseas employees back to the U.S., including reserving flights for those officials and their families.

“We could be doing the lifesaving work we’ve been doing,” the official said, “but instead we’re stuck here like travel agents.”

As congressional Democrats scramble to rescue USAID, its thousands of employees in the U.S. and around the globe are grappling with how to “leave with dignity,” another career agency official said.

But doing so has proven to be a challenge. A message posted on USAID.gov signaled that some “designated personnel” would remain on the job, prompting a frantic race among staff to secure their livelihoods.

“It’s the Hunger Games,” another career USAID official based in Washington said. “They’re narrowing down lists to the smallest number of staff. People fighting to be on those lists.”

USAID staff on Thursday were digesting news that all but roughly 600 employees would be placed on leave by the end of the week. President Trump has accused the agency of perpetrating “tremendous fraud” and promoting left-wing ideologies.

Meanwhile, officials deployed overseas face hurdles of their own. The abrupt stop-work orders and funding freezes imposed by the Trump administration have placed frontline USAID employees in the uncomfortable position of explaining to regional partners what is happening.

“Many of [the foreign service nationals] have worked for USAID for 20-30 years,” said one USAID official stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “It’s impossible to explain to them what is going on. It breaks their faith in America. We are going to lose thousands of our best friends and allies.”

In a different African country, staff met earlier in the week to begin choreographing their departure, a local USAID official recalled.

“The meeting today with local staff was rough,” the official said. “The ambassador was there, and folks were crying. It was extremely sad. Both the mission director and the deputy mission director were also in tears.”

One official with 20 years at USAID under their belt said the ambassador in their country encouraged staff to “start preparing your CVs and start looking for jobs, because inevitably, you’re all going to be terminated.”

“[The administration is] just terrorizing everyone in USAID who has served their country, making huge sacrifices, moving around the world every four years, pulling kids out of school and away from friends and like spouses giving up their own careers so that we can serve our country and do this important work around the world,” the official said. “And I feel like It’s being erased.”

At the agency’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which has been the U.S. government’s lead response coordinator for international disasters, several employees said their email access was revoked, rendering them unable to communicate with senior officials.

One USAID contractor overseas said they were “stuck abroad on official travel with no guidance on how to proceed, where they are able to work, how to get home, or whether they are able to work.”

On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is overseeing USAID as its acting administrator, insisted during a press conference in the Dominican Republic that the administration would accommodate “exceptional circumstances regarding families or displacement.”

“We’re not trying to be disruptive to peoples’ personal lives,” Rubio insisted. “We’re not being punitive,” he said.

Back in Washington, Peter Marocco, a Trump loyalist and the architect of plans to drastically diminish the agency’s footprint, has been “in and out” of the building, but has not engaged with career officials or addressed any large numbers of staff. Marocco did not reply to ABC News’ request for comment.

Rubio has said rank-and-file USAID officials had demonstrated “rank insubordination” during attempts to overhaul the agency, claiming that the administration was left with “no choice but to take dramatic steps to bring this thing under control.”

Late Thursday, as working hours on the East Coast wound down, a senior career official at USAID shared this somber text message with ABC News: “I just lost my job.”

The official, who spent nearly a decade at the agency, was not told she was dismissed. Instead, she said agency leaders alerted those who will remain in their roles on Thursday afternoon, leaving the remaining employees to assume they would be placed on administrative leave.

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(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Friday will consider issuing a temporary restraining order to block the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development, the embattled agency that handles foreign aid, disaster relief and international development programs.

Two foreign service unions are suing the federal government as the Trump administration attempts to reduce USAID’s workforce from 14,000 to only 300 employees.

The American Foreign Service Organization and the American Federation of Government Employees filed the lawsuit in D.C. federal court Thursday, alleging that President Donald Trump engaged in a series of “unconstitutional and illegal actions” to systematically destroy USAID.

“These actions have generated a global humanitarian crisis by abruptly halting the crucial work of USAID employees, grantees, and contractors. They have cost thousands of American jobs. And they have imperiled U.S. national security interests,” the lawsuit said.

The plaintiffs said Trump has unilaterally attempted to reduce the agency without congressional authorization, arguing that Congress is the only entity with the authority to dismantle USAID.

The lawsuit reads like a timeline of the last two weeks, laying out each step that formed the groundwork to break USAID, beginning with Trump’s first day in office. Shortly after Trump froze foreign aid via an executive order on his first day, he began to target USAID by ordering his State Department to begin issuing stop work orders, the lawsuit said.

“USAID grantees and contractors reeled as they were — without any notice or process — constrained from carrying out their work alleviating poverty, disease, and humanitarian crises,” the lawsuit said.

Next came the layoffs, the lawsuit alleges, with thousands of contractors and employees of USAID losing their jobs, leading medical clinics, soup kitchens, and refugee assistance programs across the world to be brought “to an immediate halt.”

“The humanitarian consequences of defendants’ actions have already been catastrophic,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges the Department of Government Efficiency and Elon Musk — who boasted about “feeding USAID into the woodchipper” — made the final move to gut the agency, locking thousands of employees out of their computers and accessing classified material improperly.

While each step to dismantle the organization differed, the lawsuit alleged that they were unified by one thing: “Not a single one of defendants’ actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization.”

The plaintiffs have asked the court to declare Trump’s actions unlawful and issue an order requiring the Trump administration to “cease actions to shut down USAID’s operations in a manner not authorized by Congress.”

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(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Friday will consider blocking the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing records from the Department of Labor after a lawsuit alleged that Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team sought to illegally access highly sensitive data, including medical information, from the federal government.

Five federal unions alleged that DOGE employees are breaking the law by seeking to access sensitive records from the Department of Labor, including the “most private, sensitive employee and medical information on virtually every worker in America,” according to the suit

“Department of Labor employees have been told to unquestionably give DOGE operatives access to any system or information they request, or else face termination,” the lawsuit said, alleging that DOGE’s pattern of conduct has been “replete with violations of law.”

Musk’s private companies, including SpaceX and Tesla, have been investigated and fined by parts of the Department of Labor, and at least one of his companies is being actively investigated. Musk has denied all wrongdoing.

On Wednesday, in response to a lawsuit by several federal employee unions, lawyers with the Justice Department agreed to a temporary restraining order that would largely prohibit DOGE from accessing Treasury Department data.

As DOGE has, according to the suit, “zeroed in on and sought unprecedented access to sensitive information” from other federal agencies, including the Treasury Department and Department of Education, the lawsuit raised red flags about Musk’s intrusion into the Department of Labor because of the sensitivity of their records related to the administration of the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act.

According to the lawsuit, Labor Department records include injury reports for thousands of employees, medical records, claim forms, and personal information gathered during the administration of FECA claims.

The department also has records of at least 86,000 workers compensation claims from 2024 alone that could be breached by DOGE, the suit said.

“The threats to the Department of Labor that give rise to this action and application for emergency relief represent yet another iteration of what is fast becoming a pattern for DOGE: exceeding its narrow mission and exercising authority it does not (and cannot) possess by exerting control over agencies through personal attacks and threats of unlawful reprisals, and harming people and the stability of our nation in the process,” the lawsuit said.

In a court filing Thursday, Justice Department attorneys representing DOGE argued that the federal unions who brought the case failed to show how they would be harmed by the sharing of data between DOGE and the Labor Department, acknowledging that multiple DOGE representatives have already been sent to work for the department.

“Plaintiffs cannot establish standing, much less irreparable harm, to challenge the sharing of unstated categories of information from unidentified records systems to unknown individuals working in the Executive Branch,” their filing said.

The lawsuit further alleged that Musk — described as an “an unappointed, unelected, and temporarily serving official” — has sought to “run roughshod” over the Labor Department at the same time it has active investigations pending into his private companies.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration — which falls under the Labor Department — previously investigated and fined Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla for multiple safety incidents, including one in connection with a SpaceX employee’s death. OSHA also has multiple open investigations into Musk’s Boring Company.

“Mr. Musk would ordinarily be unable to access nonpublic information regarding those investigations,” the lawsuit said. “In light of the blanket instruction to provide DOGE employees with ‘anything they want,’ Mr. Musk or his associates will be able to access that information simply by asking DOL employees for it.”

The plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would prohibit the Department of Labor from sharing any records with DOGE.

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(DENVER) — Two federal law enforcement sources briefed on Wednesday morning’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-led raids in seven locations across Denver tell ABC News that the operation yielded the arrest of just one alleged gang member. Twenty-nine people were also detained, sources told ABC News.

ICE previously said on Wednesday that “100+ members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua were targeted for arrest and detention” in raids that day. However, the operation ultimately produced far fewer than that number.

The arrest and detentions are separate from a DEA operation ABC News also observed in Denver that day while accompanying ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents. The DEA operation resulted in at least two-drug related arrests that were not related to immigration status, sources told ABC News.

ABC News interviewed and obtained Ring doorbell footage from one person that revealed agents on Wednesday going door-to-door asking residents at one apartment complex for identification, travel documents, and permission to enter the units to look around. In many cases, agents did not present a warrant or explain why they were there, according to ABC News interviews with residents and examination of obtained footage.

A DEA official on scene told ABC News that they executed two targeted drug trafficking warrants at the apartment complex at the same time as the ICE raid.

After the operation, Tim Lenzen, the acting special agent in charge of HSI’s Denver office, told reporters that they did not have the total numbers of detainments or how many of those were for alleged immigration-related offenses, though he did say that one arrest was a fugitive from Chile and “a known [Tren de Aragua] member.” Lenzen said that member was wanted for kidnapping and extortion in another country.

President Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said Wednesday on Fox News that the ICE “operation was leaked,” which compromised its effectiveness.

“This is not a game,” Homan said, adding that “people who want to game this … need to stop or we’ll prosecute them through the Department of Justice.”

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(NEW YORK) — The Justice Department and attorneys representing a group of FBI employees who sued over a list compiled of personnel who worked on cases stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol reached a temporary deal Friday to ensure the list won’t be released publicly pending further legal proceedings.

The agreement by the Justice Department states “the government will not disseminate the list … to the public, directly or indirectly, before the Court rules on Plaintiff’s anticipated motions for a preliminary injunction.”

If DOJ leadership were to change their minds and release the list, they would need to provide two business days’ notice to attorneys and the court, per the agreement.

The anonymous group of FBI agents had sought a temporary restraining order to keep the FBI from releasing the names on a list the bureau collected as part of what the plaintiffs’ lawsuit says is the agency’s plan to engage in “potential vigilante action” to retaliate against government employees who worked on Jan. 6 cases or Donald Trump’s classified documents case.

After several hours of grueling back and forth during a hearing Thursday, the Justice Department’s attorney, Jeremy Simon, was able to commit that the DOJ itself would not further disseminate the list pending further proceedings in the case — but that answer did not satisfy either the judge or plaintiffs’ attorneys because Simon said he could not ensure that other parties in the government would not be able to release the list in some form.

Simon noted he had no reason to believe the list has been shared beyond DOJ leadership, and ultimately was able to relay from a superior that there’s been no “official” dissemination of the list after it was handed over by the FBI.

“What does that mean?” pressed U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, questioning whether the list could have been unofficially leaked outside of the department.

Simon said he had no reason to believe it had been leaked but couldn’t commit under oath that the list wouldn’t be shared or released by a separate government entity outside of DOJ.

“You represent the government,” Judge Cobb said. “The White House wants this information. Does the government have present intent to publicly release names of FBI agents that worked on Jan. 6 cases?”

“People who have the list don’t have present intent,” Simon replied.

Simon further said he had difficulty getting approval from superiors about language they could agree upon to further bind the government from releasing the list, citing other major civil rulings that the department has faced in just the past several hours.

The parties reached an out-of-court agreement on Friday that restricts the government from releasing the list pending further proceedings. The court set a preliminary injunction hearing over the list for March 27.

Earlier Thursday, attorneys for the agents argued that the release of the list would have serious consequences.

“Our argument is that the threat to national security is so extreme that we cannot risk letting it happen first, and then trying to put it back together,” said attorney for the agents Margaret Donovan in arguing for the temporary restraining order.

“I appreciate that, and I’m sympathetic to that argument,” Judge Cobb said. “A fear of something happening is not sufficient, even if — you know — the fear is a serious one.”

Lawyers representing the plaintiffs warned that the Trump Administration and DOGE head Elon Musk have demonstrated a willingness to publicly name officials they’ve accused of wrongdoing, such as the 51 former intelligence officials who wrote a letter about the Hunter Biden laptop and were later stripped of their security clearances in a Day-1 executive order by President Donald Trump.

“We have seen Elon Musk, working for the so-called DOGE agency, release names of individuals in public service. We have seen Jan. 6 pardonees very active on social media around the time of the survey, anticipating that the names would be released,” Donovan said. “We have a good faith reason to believe that those names may get out.”

In a court filing submitted Thursday morning, the Justice Department urged the judge hearing the case to reject the plaintiffs’ request to impose a restraining order blocking any public release of the list.

DOJ attorneys argued in the filing that the motion for the restraining order is based largely on speculation and that the FBI agents have failed to show they face any imminent threats in connection with the list.

Trump pleaded not guilty in 2023 to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, and, separately, to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The classified documents case was dismissed last year by a federal judge, and both cases were subsequently dropped following Trump’s reelection in November due to a longstanding DOJ policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.

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(NEW YORK) — Luxury real estate brokers Tal and Oren Alexander, along with their brother Alon, on Friday pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to drug and sexually assault dozens of women nearly two months after their arrest.

The three Alexander brothers arrived in Manhattan federal court together in handcuffs, shackles and drab beige jail clothing.

They pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking charges in their first court appearance in New York after being arrested in Miami in December. Their transfer was delayed for weeks as they tried unsuccessfully to secure bail.

Prosecutors announced plans to file additional charges, stating that more than 60 women alleged they were raped by at least one of the brothers. The three siblings have been accused of luring women to nightclubs and parties, then drugging and sexually assaulting them.

“We do intend to bring a superseding indictment in this case,” prosecutor Elizabeth Espinosa said. “I think we will need another month or two.”

Espinosa said that investigators gathered a “substantial” amount of evidence, including accounts from alleged victims, as well as data from iCloud, Instagram, Facebook, dating apps, cell phones, laptop computers and electronic storage devices.

In a January court hearing, when the brothers were still in Florida, prosecutor Andrew Jones said FBI agents found multiple hard drives in a closet of Tal’s apartment during a search.

They allegedly contained “a large quantity of sexually explicit videos and photos” showing the brothers with drunk, naked women who were unaware they were being recorded. According to prosecutors, some of the women tried to hide or flee from the camera when they realized they were being filmed.

Defense attorney Deanna Paul, who is representing Tal, called the allegations “speculative” and questioned what the videos depict, prompting U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni to interject.

“In my view, having a sex with a woman who is incapacitated is likely rape,” Caproni said.

On Friday, Caproni scheduled the trial for Jan. 5, 2026, anticipating it will last at least a month. Defense attorneys have until early May to file a motion to dismiss. The next in-person court hearing is scheduled for mid-July.

All three brothers face 15 years to life in prison if convicted of the federal charges. Oren and Tal were prominent New York and Miami real estate agents, working with wealthy and celebrity clients.

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(GREENCASTLE, Pa.) — The CEO of Pete and Gerry’s Eggs is speaking out after 100,000 eggs mysteriously disappeared from one of its facilities in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, last weekend.

In an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America,” Tom Flocco said the egg firm, which contracts with over 300 farms across the country, is going to boost security measures after 8,000 cartons — worth $40,000 — were stolen from the back of a distribution trailer at approximately 8:40 p.m. on Feb. 2.

“I’ve worked in other industries before where things get stolen from factories,” Flocco told “GMA’s” Elizabeth Schulze. “It happens. It’s terrible. I’m not happy about it, but it does happen.”

To ensure this does not occur again, Flocco said the company will place additional security on the ground, install better lighting and include extra cameras throughout its facilities.

“It could happen once, it could happen again,” Flocco said. “We are putting additional measures in place.”

Police are still scrambling to find a suspect and closely examining video surveillance. If the public knows of any leads, officials urge people to contact Pennsylvania State Police Chambersburg.

“We are working with local authorities in Pennsylvania and we’re giving them our full cooperation,” Flocco said. “We’ll let you know when we learn more.”

Flocco said the thieves might face one obstacle after this unusual heist: The eggs need to stay refrigerated as they are transported, since they can spoil at room temperature.

“They’re transported in a refrigerated truck, they’re brought into a refrigerated warehouse, kept there until they’re ready to be processed, washed, cooled and kept cold until we eat them,” Flocco said.

This case comes amid a soaring amount of bird flu infections occurring across the United States, which is also causing an egg shortage. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, 142 flocks were confirmed to test positive for bird flu, also known as avian influenza, in the last 30 days.

When a bird becomes infected with the virus, the animal needs to be culled and the eggs need to be destroyed. With more farms experiencing bird flu outbreaks, the USDA predicted at the end of January that egg prices will rise up to 20%.

Restaurants like the Waffle House have implemented a surcharge of 50 cents for egg items on their menu due to the shortage, the company announced on Monday. Flocco said Pete and Gerry’s Eggs will continue to remain at the same price of about $7 a dozen, despite the recent heist.

“We’re finding the consumer interest for our product is greater than it’s ever been and we only expect it to continue,” Flocco said. “We are charging the same price to our retail partners today as we did a year ago.”

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(NOME, Alaska) — Crews in Nome, Alaska, are conducting search-and-rescue operations after a Bering Air caravan with 10 people aboard went missing, according to local authorities.

Bering Air Flight 445, a Cessna 208B, disappeared while flying from Unalakleet Airport to Nome Airport around 3:20 p.m. local time Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

“The aircraft was 12 miles offshore transiting from Unalakleet to Nome when its position was lost,” the U.S. Coast Guard Alaska maritime region said.

There were nine passengers and a pilot on board.

The Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a Facebook post it was conducting an active ground search but that, due to weather and visibility, its crews were unable to search by air.

A National Guard C-130 reported it found nothing found so far. The Air Force also sent a C-130 to resume the search and also reported no visuals, and have one hour of flight search time remaining, according to an update early Friday morning.

The National Transportation Safety Board is aware of the reports and is monitoring situation, ABC News has learned.

ABC News’ Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — The storm that brought heavy rain and mountain snow to the West Coast is making the trek across the country to bring a significant snowstorm to the Northeast this weekend.

The snow will first hit the upper Midwest on Friday. Up to 8 inches of snow is expected, with cold and blustery weather sticking around through the weekend in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin.

On Saturday, that storm combines with moisture streaming in from the South, enhancing the snow potential for a large portion of the Northeast.

Cities like Hartford, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; and Boston are all facing heavy snow from Saturday evening into Sunday morning.

A winter storm watch is in effect in the Northeast; there’s a high likelihood of 4 to 8 inches of snow. New York City is included in the winter storm watch, though the city will be right on the fringe of heavier snow to the north and much lesser amounts to the south.

Some spots in New England could see up to 1 foot of snow.

Then, next week, another storm could bring more snow and ice to the Interstate 95 corridor. Cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston are all looking at a potential winter storm Tuesday into Wednesday.
 

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(NEW YORK) — Live bird markets in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County will be shut down for a week after seven cases of avian flu in poultry were found at live bird markets in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, state officials said Friday.

The cases were discovered during routine inspections. All infected flocks will be depopulated, officials said.

The state stressed the shutdowns are prudent steps. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul noted that avian flu does not pose a public health threat.

The order requires those markets to sell down all inventory, complete cleaning and disinfection procedures and remain closed for a period of five days after cleaning and disinfection.

There are no human cases of avian influenza, and the threat to the public is low.

Cases of bird flu have increased among animals — including dairy cows, wild birds, poultry and even pet cats.

On Wednesday, a second type of bird flu was found in dairy cows for the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced.

The number of birds affected by the virus has been rising in recent months, with roughly 7 million affected in November, 18 million in December, and 23 million in January, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
 

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