Mental health, substance abuse staffers fired amid government shutdown: Sources
A view of the U.S. Capitol on September 29, 2025 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Dozens of employees at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration were laid off in the wave of government shutdown firings last week, multiple sources told ABC News.
Best known for overseeing the rollout of the 988 suicide prevention hotline, SAMHSA works with state and local governments on mental health and addiction initiatives and gives out billions in grants.
The firings, which began Friday, include widespread layoffs of staff that oversee child, adolescent and family mental health services, sources told ABC News.
Roughly one in 10 of SAMHSA’s 900 staff were fired in the spring Department of Government Efficiency cuts. Other staff were recently transferred to other programs in the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees SAMHSA.
A HHS spokesperson told ABC News that employees who received a Reduction in Force notice “were deemed non-essential by their respective division.”
While the impacts of these latest firings are still being determined, a source tells ABC the agency was “hard hit.”
ABC News’ Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide — free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call or text the national lifeline at 988.
President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office at the White House, Aug. 18, 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump, just days after celebrating an Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement he helped broker in the Middle East, turns his attention Friday to the Russia-Ukraine war, hosting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
Ukraine’s request for American-made Tomahawk missiles is expected to be a focus of the talks.
“They want to go offensive,” Trump said of Kyiv earlier this week. “I’ll make a determination on that.”
The long-range weapons would give Ukraine the ability to strike deep inside Russia, and Zelenskyy described them as a difference-maker in a conflict that has dragged three-and-a-half years. Moscow, though, warned that Tomahawk deliveries would mark “a dangerous escalation of relations between Russia and the United States.”
Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a long phone call on Thursday, one day before his in-person meeting with Zelenskyy. In a surprise development, Trump announced he and Putin plan to meet again (this time in Budapest) to discuss the war after initial discussions among high-level advisers next week.
Trump said he would be telling Zelenskyy on Friday what he and Putin discussed in the call.
The president said he talked with Putin “a little bit” about Tomahawks in their two-hour conversation. He said he asked the Russian president how he would feel if he sold them to Ukraine. “He didn’t like the idea,” Trump said.
Trump also expressed concern about depleting the U.S. supply of Tomahawks.
“They’re very vital. They’re very powerful. They’re very accurate. They’re very good. But we need them too. So, I don’t know what we can do about that,” Trump told reporters as he took questions during an Oval Office event.
This latest diplomatic push comes nearly two months after Trump hosted Putin in Alaska for a high-profile summit that ultimately yielded no major breakthrough. Days later, Trump welcomed Zelenskyy to the White House as well as a delegation of European leaders who rushed to Washington to support the Ukrainian leader after an extraordinarily tense scene between Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office back in February.
Trump, who once said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war immediately upon his return to office, has lamented that the conflict is more difficult to bring to a close than he anticipated.
“This is a terrible relationship, the two of them have. … Because of my relationship with President Putin, I thought this would be very quick. And it has turned out to be — who would think I did the Middle East before I did this?”
In Alaska, Trump’s immediate goal was to set up a trilateral meeting with himself, Putin and Zelenskyy, or a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy. Those meetings never occurred.
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce, after Trump announced he planned to meet Putin again in Hungary, asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt if the president still believed he could get Putin and Zelenskyy in the same room.
“I think he thinks it’s possible, and he would, of course, love to see that happen,” Leavitt said. “But right now, there were discussions and plans are now being made for the Russian side and our folks, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to meet and then for President Putin and President Trump to perhaps meet again. But I don’t think the president has closed the door on that at all.”
Meanwhile, Russia continues to bombard Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, firing more than 300 drones and about three dozen missiles at targets throughout Ukraine overnight into Thursday.
Zelenskyy, landing in Washington on Thursday, said he hopes “that the momentum of curbing terror and war, which worked in the Middle East, will help end the Russian war against Ukraine.”
“Putin is definitely not braver than HAMAS or any other terrorist. The language of force and justice will definitely work against Russia as well. We already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue, just hearing about ‘Tomahawks,'” the Ukrainian president wrote on X.
Zelenskyy met with American defense and energy companies on Thursday ahead of his Friday meeting at the White House.
Trump at times blamed Russia’s invasion on Ukraine and Zelenskyy, though has recently expressed frustration and disappointment with Putin. This week, he said “all we want from President Putin” is to stop the killing of Ukrainians and Russians.
“It doesn’t make him look good. It’s a war that he should have won in one week and he’s now going into his fourth year,” the president said on Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in remarks at a NATO gathering this week, also ramped up rhetoric against Russia, notably calling Moscow the aggressor.
“If this war does not end, if there is no path to peace in the short term, then the United States, along with our allies, will take the steps necessary to impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression,” Hegseth said. “If we must take this step, the U.S. War Department stands ready to do our part in ways that only the United States can do.”
But so far, Trump and his administration has held back from imposing tougher sanctions on Russia. Instead, he’s focused on getting European countries and nations like India to stop purchasing Russian oil.
On Capitol Hill, there are growing calls among Republicans — including Senate Majority Leader John Thune — to proceed with a bill that would put economic penalties on Russia.
Asked what he thought about those efforts on Thursday, Trump was noncommittal: “Well, we’re going to see.”
(NEW YORK) — The California Supreme Court on Wednesday night denied a petition from Republican state legislators requesting that the court mandate lawmakers wait 30 days before taking any action on legislation that could put new congressional maps in front of voters in November.
“The petition for writ of mandate and application for stay are denied. Petitioners have failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time under California Constitution article IV, section 8,” the court wrote.
The plaintiffs, in a response first to ABC station KGO, said they would keep up the fight against the proposed legislation.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision is not the end of this fight,” State Sens. Tony Strickland and Suzette Martinez Valladares, Assemblyman Tri Ta and Assemblywoman Kathryn Sanchez wrote.
“Although the Court denied our petition, it did not explain the reason for its ruling. This means Governor Newsom and the Democrats’ plan to gut the voter-created Citizens Redistricting Commission, silence public input, and stick taxpayers with a $200+ million bill will proceed. … We will continue to challenge this unconstitutional power grab in the courts and at the ballot box. Californians deserve fair, transparent elections, not secret backroom deals to protect politicians.”
Meanwhile, the California legislature came one step closer on Wednesday to advancing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting legislative package, which calls for a November special election where voters will be asked to weigh in on proposed new Congressional maps.
Republicans clashed with Democrats again on Wednesday over questions around the price tag of the election, and the legislation is moving forward ahead of floor votes on Thursday without an official estimate on how much taxpayers will pay.
“No one has time to figure this out, where the money is going to come from,” Republican Assemblymember Dianne Dixon said at an appropriations committee hearing on Wednesday.
Millie Yan, an official with the California Department of Finance, told lawmakers, “This is a very developing issue that we will continue to look at as developments occur.” She said the secretary of state’s office will allocate money to counties.
Republicans continued to spar with Democrats over the pricetag in the committee meetings held on Wednesday.
Republican Assemblymember David Tangipa told the committee, “I haven’t gotten a single answer on how the money’s going to get there, how much money is actually needed, and where are the cost estimates? All I’m asking for is, can we do this, and do we have funds with a projected deficit next year?”
Democrats, however, doubled down. “If we’re talking about the cost of a special election versus the cost of our democracy, or the cost that Californians are already paying to subsidize this corrupt administration, those costs seem well worth paying in this moment,” Assemblymember Isaac Bryan said.
Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, who chairs the assembly appropriations committee, told KGO-TV’s Monica Madden that estimates for the election are $230 million, even as the Department of Finance says it’s still working on the numbers.
The legislation does not specifically include any estimate of total cost.
Republican legislators in California announced Wednesday that they are sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice and to the U.S. Attorneys representing California, calling for a potential federal investigation into who is behind the proposed new congressional maps in California and how they were constructed.
The letter, obtained by ABC station KGO-TV, alleges, based on local media reports, that some Democratic legislators drew maps to benefit themselves and may have conditioned their votes for the maps on getting districts drawn that could benefit them.
ABC News has not independently confirmed these reports.
In a press conference Wednesday morning in Sacramento, Assemblymember Carl Demaio framed Democratic efforts to redraw lines in California as corrupt.
“This corruption must end, and if it is not a decision of the politicians to back down, then perhaps we will need a federal investigation to force them to finally comply with their oath of office and with ethical conduct in compliance with federal laws,” Demaio said.
In response to being called corrupt, Democratic Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire said in a statement to ABC News, “The hypocrisy of California Republican leaders is astounding. They are bowing to Donald Trump’s fight to rig the 2026 elections. California Republican leadership should focus their efforts on stopping Trump and Texas who started all of this, they are the real culprits here. In California’s plan, voters have the final say. This is about fairness.”
On Thursday morning, both the Assembly and Senate will gavel in to debate and vote on all three pieces of legislation, known as the “Election Rigging Response Act.”
(WASHINGTON) — More than a year after a Secret Service counter sniper team killed a would-be assassin targeting President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, a report from the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General found the team faces “chronic understaffing.”
“The United States Secret Service’s (Secret Service) Counter Sniper Team (CS) is staffed 73 percent below the level necessary to meet mission requirements,” the inspector general’s report says. “Failure to appropriately staff CS could limit the Secret Service’s ability to properly protect our Nation’s most senior leaders, risking injury or assassination, and subsequent national-level harm to the country’s sense of safety and security.”
The Secret Service does not have an effective process to hire counter snipers, the IG found; all the while, the demand for them increased 151% from 2020 to 2024.
It takes about three years from the time a uniformed Secret Service officer joins the agency to when they can join the counter sniper team, according to the IG.
Counter snipers who missed mandatory weapons training supported 47 of the 426 events (11%) attended by protectees in calendar year 2024, the inspector general found.
Those events included events attended by then-President Joe Biden, including the wake for Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson in Dallas on Jan. 8, 2024, a campaign reception in New York on Feb. 7, 2024, and when he delivered remarks in Manchester, New Hampshire on March 11, 2024.
The United States Secret Service has 344 protectees and supported 5,141 protective visits (4,723 domestic, 337 foreign, and 81 U.S. territorial), and its budget is about $1.2 billion to support protectees, according to the IG.
While the number of total counter snipers was redacted, the IG found that during the 2024 campaign, the Secret Service would sometimes rely on other components’ counter snipers. For example, when the president is visiting a site, a Secret Service counter sniper team would automatically be assigned, but if it was for another protectee, the Secret Service might assign another component’s team or rely on state and local support because of the staffing issues, the IG found.
In an August 2024 letter, the acting deputy director of ICE asked for Homeland Security Investigations Special Response teams to be embedded with the counter sniper teams to better cover residences in Palm Beach, Florida, and Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
The Secret Service agreed with the inspector general’s assessment of the counter sniper team and are working on hiring more officers to become counter snipers.
