A judge’s ruling on federal layoffs criticizes the White House’s actions. Trump makes an extraordinary and unprecedented acknowledgment about CIA operations in Venezuela. And how reading in public became meme fodder.
Here’s what to know today.
Judge blocks Trump’s layoffs during shutdown, calling them illegal
A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from laying off federal workers during the government shutdown, which has now stretched to two weeks.
Two unions sued the Trump administration last month ahead of the shutdown after the White House signaled a plan to lay people off through “reductions in force” at federal agencies.
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“The activities that are being undertaken here are contrary to the laws,” U.S. District Judge Susan Yvonne Illston said. “You can’t do this in a nation of laws.”
Illston added that the Trump administration had “taken advantage of the lapse in government spending and government functioning to assume that all bets are off, the laws don’t apply to them anymore, and they can impose the structures that they like on the government situation that they don’t like.”
An earlier filing from the government stated that the administration had begun laying off at least 4,000 workers.
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More politics news:
- Democrats pressured House Speaker Mike Johnson to seat Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, staging a protest at his office to try to get him to swear in the newest Democratic member of Congress.
- Vice President JD Vance defended young Republican leaders who are under scrutiny after Politico published “hundreds of racist and hateful messages” from what it reported was their private group chat.
- Republicans in Virginia are centering their message in the closing weeks of the election on recently surfaced violent texts from Jay Jones, the Democrats’ nominee for attorney general.
- On Saturday, millions of people will march in nationwide “No Kings” protests, which organizers expect to far surpass the 5 million demonstrators who turned out for June’s “No Kings” day.
- A Republican congressman from Ohio condemned the display of an altered American flag that included a swastika in his office.
Trump confirms he authorized CIA action in Venezuela
The CIA’s operations abroad are usually shrouded in secrecy, but President Donald Trump said he had authorized the spy agency to take unspecified action in Venezuela, an extraordinary and unprecedented acknowledgement from a commander in chief.
Asked why he authorized the CIA to go into Venezuela, the president gave two reasons: the first was a claim that the country was emptying “their prisons into the United States of America.” The second was narcotics trafficking.
The president’s remarks come amid strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats.