Trump and Musk overseeing mass federal layoffs; CDC cuts 10% of its workforce: Live

A second federal judge on Friday paused Trump’s executive order halting federal support for gender-affirming care for transgender youth under 19.

U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King granted a temporary restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington state, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration last week. Three doctors joined as plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in the Western District of Washington.

The decision came one day after a federal judge in Baltimore temporarily blocked the executive order in response to a separate lawsuit filed on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children.

Judge Brendan Hurson’s temporary restraining order will last 14 days but could be extended, and essentially puts Trump’s directive on hold while the case proceeds. Hurston and King were both appointed by former President Joe Biden.

The bill allows for “a historic version of a flag…that is temporarily displayed for educational purposes,” which Republican lawmaker Trevor Lee says will include Nazi and Confederate flags, according to the Tribune.

“OK, that solves that problem,” the president says.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted that President Donald Trump is now signing two executive orders — one on ending Covid-19 vaccination mandates in schools, and the other establishing the Energy Dominance Council led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Leavitt makes a point of saying that the Associated Press was not invited into the Oval Office.

Trump’s mass layoffs of federal workers and spending freezes could come back to bite him in the economic data.

The monthly jobs reports could start to show a slowdown in hiring, if not go negative at some point after the February numbers are released. The last time the economy lost jobs during a month was in December 2020, when the United States was still muscling its way out of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Overall, it doesn’t seem that DOGE has managed to actually cut spending substantively yet — instead they’ve just created chaos,” said Martha Gimbel, executive director of the Budget Lab at Yale University. She noted that employers that rely on government grants and contracts would also show declines in hiring, if not worse.

“Given everything that is happening in the federal government, it is very plausible that job growth could turn negative at some point,” Gimbel said. “But it may take a few more reports for the impact to show up.”

Sources briefed on the matter told Reuters that a U.S. federal prosecutor agreed on Friday to file a motion to dismiss the criminal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. This move would protect other career staff from potentially being fired for refusing to do so.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, during a Friday meeting with all of the department’s career public integrity prosecutors, instructed them that they had an hour to decide among themselves who would file the motion, the sources said.

A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reuters could not quickly determine the name of the prosecutor, though the names of attorneys filing motions typically appear on those motions when they become public.

Six senior Justice Department officials, including Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, resigned on Thursday rather than comply with Bove’s order to dismiss the case.

Here’s what you need to know about what led up to this:

Brooke Rollins, Donald Trump’s new Agriculture secretary, spoke to reporters outside the White House just now about high food prices and acknowledged the risk of avian flu as a possible contributor.

“Clearly, one of the key issues facing all Americans right now is the price of food and grocery prices,” she said. “My very first briefing in my office last night was on this particular issue… was on the avian bird flu.”

She said her department is looking at all possible approaches to fighting the threat of avian flu.

“We are looking at every possible scenario to ensure that we are doing everything we can in a safe, secure manner but also to ensure that Americans have the food that they need…We will be announcing more in the coming days.”

Rollins is heading to Kentucky soon for a major farm show.

On the layoffs sweeping the federal workforce, Rollins says it’s “clearly a new day” in government and that President Trump has a mandate to make the cuts.

“I think the American people spoke on November 5 that they believe that government was too big … that it was no longer, in many respects, serving the people for which our Founders intended.”

She told reporters, “I spoke to about 700 people” at the Department of Agriculture about her vision this morning, giving 10 minutes of remarks.

“To date, I think we have canceled almost 1000 trainings that would be DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion, gender ideology focused.”

On the SNAP, or food stamps, program, Rollins said: “Oftentimes, these government programs have started with the idea … it’s not a handout, it’s a hand up, and then years later, the programs are even bigger, and you’ve got more people on them. And are we really giving people a hand up, or is it a handout? So if we can have, you know, a whole other group of really smart people looking at SNAP, and other programs at USDA, that will allow us to ensure what are our metrics for success? Are we meeting those metrics for success?”