Trump 2nd term updates: Trump says USAID is run by 'radical lunatics'

The comments came amid turmoil as DOGE took over USAID offices last week.

President Donald Trump made good on his threats to impose tariffs on some of the U.S.'s trading partners, announcing Saturday that he will levy 25% tariffs on some goods from Canada and Mexico and 10% on Chinese goods.

Experts have warned that tariffs of this magnitude will likely increase prices paid by U.S. and Trump appeared to acknowledge that “some pain” might be possible in the U.S.

Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee announced it will meet Tuesday, when it is expected to vote on the controversial nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services.

Jan 21, 2025, 10:54 PM EST

Federal employee union sues over DOGE, pushes back on executive orders

In the hours after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union for federal employees filed a lawsuit against Trump and the Office of Management and Budget, while also calling on Congress to protect government workers’ jobs.

The lawsuit alleges that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

“DOGE has already begun developing recommendations and influencing decision-making in the new administration, even though its membership lacks the fair balance required by FACA and its meetings and records are not open to public inspection in real time," the complaint alleges.

AFGE National President Everett Kelley has also gone on the offense over Trump’s flurry of executive orders to eliminate federal telework and diversity programs, to freeze federal hiring and to re-introduce at-will employment policies that would make it easier to fire some federal employees.

Kelley asked Congress to intervene to save federal workers from being fired at will.

“AFGE will not stand idly by as a secretive group of ultra-wealthy individuals with major conflicts of interest attempt to deregulate themselves and give their own companies sweetheart government contracts while firing civil servants and dismantling the institutions designed to serve the American people,” Kelley said in a statement.

He added, “This fight is about fairness, accountability, and the integrity of our government. Federal employees are not the problem—they are the solution. They deserve to have their voices heard in decisions that affect their work, their agencies, and the public they serve.”

-ABC News' Beatrice Peterson

Jan 21, 2025, 9:48 PM EST

Federal judge sets hearing on Trump's birthright citizenship executive order

President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order on birthright citizenship will face its first legal test in a Seattle courtroom on Thursday morning.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour scheduled a 10 a.m. hearing on Thursday to consider a request made by four states to issue a temporary restraining order against Trump’s executive order.

Earlier Tuesday, the attorneys generals of Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Illinois sued Trump over the order, which they said would disenfranchise more than 150,000 newborn children each year.

They described Trump's executive order as the modern equivalent of the Supreme Court's infamous Dred Scott decision. The 14th Amendment repudiated Scott establishing what the plaintiffs called a "bright-line and nearly universal rule" that Trump now seeks to violate.

"President Trump and the federal government now seek to impose a modern version of Dred Scott. But nothing in the Constitution grants the President, federal agencies, or anyone else authority to impose conditions on the grant of citizenship to individuals born in the United States," their emergency motion said.

Coughenour -- who was nominated to the bench by former President Ronald Reagan -- will likely be the first judge to weigh in on Trump’s executive order.

-ABC News' Laura Romero and Peter Charalambous

Jan 21, 2025, 9:40 PM EST

Federal government directed to put DEI employees on leave

All federal employees working on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and initiatives must be put on paid administrative leave by Wednesday at 5 p.m., according to an Office of Personnel Management memo obtained by ABC News.

The decision comes as the Trump administration shuts down the relevant DEI offices and programs across the federal government.

The directive follows President Donald Trump's signing of executive orders Monday to dismantle federal DEI programs, as part of Trump’s larger campaign vow to reverse and upend the diversity efforts across the country, in the public and private sectors.

-ABC News' Ben Siegel

Jan 21, 2025, 9:02 PM EST

DC Police Union dismayed by Jan. 6 pardons

The Washington, D.C., Police Union, which represents officers from the Metropolitan Police Department expressed "dismay" over the recent pardons granted to those who violently attacked police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

"As an organization that represents the interests of the 3,000 brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect our communities, our stance is clear – anyone who assaults a law enforcement officer should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, without exception," the union said in a statement.

"We remain steadfast in our mission to protect the rights and interests of all police officers and to ensure that justice is applied fairly and consistently," the statement continued.

-ABC News' Luke Barr

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