RFK Jr. announces HHS reinstating some programs, employees cut by mistake
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(WASHINGTON) — On the heels of terminating 10,000 jobs from the Department of Health and Human Services this week, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told ABC News some programs would soon be reinstated because they were mistakenly cut.
Kennedy’s comments were in response to a question about a branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that monitors lead levels among children and manages prevention across the country. The program was gutted on Tuesday.
“There were some programs that were cuts that are being reinstated, and I believe that that’s one,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy said other programs across HHS would be reinstated as well.
Of the cuts that were made, he said some would be brought back because they were not the administrative roles that the Department of Government Efficiency, run by billionaire Elon Musk, was aiming to eliminate, such as communications or human resources jobs, and that research or “studies” were also wrongly swept up in the mass layoffs.
“We’re streamlining the agencies. We’re going to make it work for public health, make it work for the American people,” Kennedy said. “In the course of that, there were a number of instances where studies that should have not have been cut were cut, and we’ve reinstated them. Personnel that should not have been cut were cut — we’re reinstating them, and that was always the plan.”
That was news to Erik Svendsen, the director of the division that oversaw the CDC’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention branch, who told ABC News in an interview that the work was completely stopped. Svendsen had not received any indication it would be reinstated or continued through another part of the CDC.
Kennedy did not respond to a question about when jobs would be reinstated. ABC News has reached out to HHS for more details on which roles, if any, have been asked to return.
It would not be the first time that jobs were reinstated after DOGE cuts. In the first round of firings, targeted at probationary workers, hundreds of CDC and Food and Drug Administration employees were later brought back.
“And one of the things that President Trump has said is that if we make mistakes, we’re going to admit it and we’re going to remedy it, and that’s one of the mistakes,” Kennedy said.
But even as he acknowledged that his department cut people mistakenly, Kennedy has maintained, including in comments earlier Thursday, that no front-line work or essential services were affected by the massive restructuring he’s overseeing.
“The cuts in all of our agency are not affecting science,” he said. “Front-line enforcement jobs and health delivery jobs are preserved.”
(WASHINGTON) — In a new letter, Democratic lawmakers are asking federal regulators to look into legal and ethical questions around the meme cryptocurrency coins launched by President Donald Trump and the first lady.
The letter formally raises concerns about the risk of foreign countries trying to curry influence by buying the coins — and the ethics of Trump making “extraordinary profits off his presidency.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee and an advocate for crypto regulation, co-wrote the letter with Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., who sits on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Warren and Auchincloss point to the foreign emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states “[N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
“Anyone, including the leaders of hostile nations, can covertly buy these coins, raising the specter of uninhibited and untraceable foreign influence over the President of the United States, all while President Trump’s supporters are left to shoulder the risk of investing in $TRUMP and $MELANIA,” Warren and Auchincloss wrote to the Office of Government Ethics, the Treasury Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The meme coins also pose a conflict of interest, they write, because Trump’s family members are expected to directly profit off an industry he is charged with regulating. The president nominates the Chairs of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Securities and Exchange Commission, the Directors of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Secretary of the Treasury.
“This creates an unavoidable conflict of interest, as he will be in a position to both benefit directly from the sale of the tokens while also setting the policy on how these markets are regulated. He will be in a position to seek commitments from agency heads, to not only decide how the market is valued, but to implement lax policies to crack down on crypto scams like pump-and-dump schemes that are regularly conducted through meme coins,” the letter says.
ABC News reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump launched the $TRUMP coin Friday night, just days before he took office. Its estimated value is now $7 billion, according to CoinGecko. The $MELANIA coin is worth around $400 million. A big share of the profits from these coins go toward Trump and his businesses, according to financial disclosures. (If Trump divests of his interests in these companies like he did with most of his assets during his first term, his family could still profit off them.)
Meme coins are a highly volatile type of cryptocurrency that allow people to bet on a popular personality or trend.
On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order seeking to support the expansion of cryptocurrencies.
(BOSTON) — The Department of Education and other agencies are reviewing Harvard University for fostering antisemitism on its campus, Secretary Linda McMahon said Monday.
“Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic discrimination — all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry — has put its reputation in serious jeopardy,” McMahon said in a release.
“Harvard can right these wrongs and restore itself to a campus dedicated to academic excellence and truth-seeking, where all students feel safe on its campus,” she said.
The Education Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and the General Services Administration are joining in the comprehensive review of the school.
The move comes as the administration’s joint task force doubles down on removing antisemitic conduct and harassment from elite universities. The administration stripped Columbia University of $400 million in grants earlier this month after a task force investigation found inaction by the school to protect Jewish students.
Monday’s actions against Harvard come after a similar review led to Columbia agreeing to comply with nine preconditions for further negotiations regarding a return of canceled federal funds, according to the release.
The task force will review hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to Harvard and its affiliates, according to the release.
The agencies will also review another nearly $9 billion in grants to Harvard to ensure it’s in compliance with “federal regulations” and “civil rights responsibilities,” the release said.
In response to the review, Harvard President Alan Garber released a statement saying, “We fully embrace the important goal of combatting antisemitism, one of the most insidious forms of bigotry.”
“It is present on our campus,” Garber continued, “I have experienced antisemitism directly, even while serving as president, and I know how damaging it can be to a student who has come to learn and make friends at a college or university.”
Garber said, however, that the $9 billion in federal funding that is “at stake” as the university works to combat antisemitism could halt “life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation.”
“As an institution and as a community, we acknowledge our shortcomings, pursue needed change, and build stronger bonds that enable all to thrive,” Garber added.
Harvard alum Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., told ABC News he believes too many universities have gone unchecked for tent encampments and hostile demonstrations that involved students overtaking buildings on campus in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict that broke out after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Kiley, who sits on the House Education and Workforce Committee, called the administration’s review “incredibly refreshing” and a proactive solution to protect the civil rights and safety of Harvard’s Jewish students.
“We need to make sure that the rules are enforced, that civil rights laws are abided by and that there are consequences for illegal activity,” Kiley said.
Oregon Democratic Rep. Suzanne Bonamici is also a member of the Education and Workforce Committee and alongside Rep. Kiley, Bonamici serves on the subcommittee on higher education.
Bonamici told ABC News she believes the administration has been pushing a concerning attack on institutions of higher education.
She said threatening federal funding is a bridge too far. “There are ways to address anti-Semitism that don’t involve this type of threat,” Bonamici said, adding, “What they’re trying to do is intimidate these universities, like they’re doing with law firms, intimidate them into taking positions that are antithetical to higher education and free thought and critical thinking, so it’s extremely concerning.”
Protests erupted on college campuses around the country after civilian casualties mounted in Gaza as Israel launched a military campaign in response to Oct. 7, vowing to eradicate Hamas — which the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization.
The federal response comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing McMahon to abolish the Department of Education and another order that takes measures to “vigorously” combat antisemitism.
The Harvard review also highlights the administration’s promise to ensure colleges would suffer the federal consequences if they foster antisemitic protests and demonstrations in the wake of Oct. 7.
On the campaign trail, Trump said, “My promise to Jewish Americans is this: With your vote, I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House.”
Meanwhile, Congress is investigating Harvard and nearly a dozen other schools for allegedly fostering antisemitism on campus.
A House Education and Workforce Committee report last fall found many universities have failed to adequately discipline antisemitic conduct. A summary of the more than 100-page report alleges the “overwhelming majority” of students accused of antisemitic harassment or other acts of antisemitism on campuses faced minimal disciplinary action for their alleged violations.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Thursday claimed, without citing evidence, that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration — under Democratic presidents — were partly to blame for the tragic plane and helicopter collision in Washington on Wednesday night.
The air disaster occurred as an American Airlines passenger jet approaching Reagan Washington National Airport collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on a routine training flight.
“I put safety first, Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen,” Trump told reporters in the White House briefing room, referring to the policies, even as the investigation into what happened is just getting underway.
This is the first major commercial airline crash in the United States since 2009, when 50 people died after a plane crashed while landing near Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
“I had to say that it’s terrible,” he said, citing what he called a story about a group within the FAA that had “determined that the [FAA] workforce was too white, that they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately. This was in the Obama administration, just prior to my getting there, and we took care of African Americans, Hispanic Americans.”
Trump then signed an executive order later Thursday that appointed Christopher Rocheleau, a 22-year veteran of the FAA, as acting commissioner of the agency, which he had said he would do in the briefing. And he signed a second executive order “aimed at undoing all of that damage” caused by the “Biden administration’s DEI and woke policies.”
“We want the most competent people. We don’t care what race they are,” the president said. “If they don’t have a great brain, a great power of the brain, they’re not going to be very good at what they do and bad things will happen.”
When asked in the earlier briefing by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce whether he was saying the crash was the result of diversity hiring, Trump said, “we don’t know” what caused the crash, adding investigators are still looking into that. “It just could have been. We have a high standard. We’ve had a higher, much higher standard than anybody else.”
Even as he made unfounded claims about the FAA’s diversity initiatives being a factor in the disaster, he said the Army helicopter crew could be at fault — and claimed he wasn’t blaming the air traffic controller who communicated with the helicopter.
When asked how he could come to the conclusion that FAA diversity policies had something to do with the disaster, he said, “Because I have common sense, OK, and unfortunately a lot of people don’t.”
DEI and any similar programs do not apply to air traffic control hiring, though — no one is given preferential treatment for race, sex, ethnicity or sexual orientation, a former FAA official told ABC News.
Applicants must pass a medical exam, an aptitude test and a psychological test that is more stringent than that required of a pilot, said Chris Wilbanks, FAA deputy vice president of safety and technical training.
In 2022, 57,000 people applied for an ATC position, Wilbanks said, and 2,400 qualified to attend the academy. Of that 2,400, only 1,000 made it to the first day of training.
Wilbanks said 72% make it through the academy and roughly 60% of those will finish training.
According to the FAA, the training process lasts about three to four years from the hire date. Applicants must be younger than 31 and must retire by age 55.
Anyone who has taken Ritalin or Adderall in the last three years doesn’t qualify, the former FAA official said.
No determination of fault in the crash has been made, and the National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation.
However, the NTSB declined to say whether DEI initiatives were a factor in the crash when asked by reporters later Thursday.
“As part of any investigation, we look at the human, the machine and the environment,” NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said. “So we will look at all the humans that were involved in this accident. Again, we will look at the aircraft. We will look at the helicopter. We will look at the environment in which they were operating in. That is part of that is standard in any part of our investigation.”
In the White House briefing, several Cabinet officials spoke after Trump to address the crash, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy saying, “What happened yesterday shouldn’t have happened.”
“And when Americans take off in airplanes, they should expect to land at their destination,” he added. “That didn’t happen yesterday. That’s not acceptable, and so we will not accept excuses. We will not accept passing the buck. We are going to take responsibility at the Department of Transportation and the FAA to make sure we have the reforms that have been dictated by President Trump in place to make sure that these mistakes do not happen again.”
However, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, while noting that a “mistake was made” in the crash, said the Department of Defense must be “colorblind and merit-based … whether it’s flying Black Hawks, and flying airplanes, leading platoons or in government.”
“The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department, and we need the best and brightest, whether it’s in our air traffic control or whether it’s in our generals, or whether it’s throughout government,” he said.
Vice President JD Vance, too, alluded to DEI having a part in the crash, saying, “We want the best people at air traffic control.”
“If you go back to just some of the headlines over the past 10 years, you have many hundreds of people suing the government because they would like to be air traffic controllers, but they were turned away because of the color of their skin,” Vance said. “That policy ends under Donald Trump’s leadership, because safety is the first priority of our aviation industry.”
But when a reporter pressed Trump, saying that similar language on DEI policies existed on the FAA’s website under Trump’s entire first term, Trump shot back, “I changed the Obama policy, and we had a very good policy and then Biden came in and he changed it. And then when I came in two days, three days ago, I said, a new order, bringing it to the highest level of intelligence.”
Trump said Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary in the Biden administration, “just got a good line of bulls—” and said he had “run [the Department of Transportation] right into the ground with his diversity.”
“Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying,” Buttigieg responded in a statement on X. “We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.”
Illinois Rep. Robin Kelly called Trump’s comments “dangerous, racist, and ignorant.”
“President Trump twisted a terrible tragedy — while families are mourning their loved ones — to insert his own political agenda and sow division,” Kelly said in a statement. “This is not leadership. We need to investigate how this plane crash happened to give a sense of closure to grieving families and prevent future crashes.
“Trump would rather point fingers than look in the mirror and face the fact that he just cut a committee responsible for aviation security,” she added. “The issue with our country is not its diversity. It’s the lack of leadership in the White House and unqualified Cabinet. Trump’s actions and words are dangerous, racist, and ignorant — simply un-American.”
