Response Center

This order designates more than one million federal workers as excluded from the legal protections that govern federal employee union negotiations.

Citing narrow "national security" exemptions from labor laws governing the relationship between federal employee unions and the government, this sweeping Executive Order claims to exempt the majority of federal government employees from laws protecting their right to collectively bargain with their employers. A Fact Sheet issued by the White House in conjunction with this order makes clear that this is retaliation for the unions' challenges to the Trump Administration's lawlessness, including its attempts to force swaths of career civil servants out of their roles. The order exempts federal law enforcement unions, which historically have supported President Trump and his policies.

This order seeks to illegally revoke the federal funding for NPR and PBS because of the networks' allegedly biased news coverage.

President Trump signed an Executive Order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to "cease federal funding for NPR and PBS" because of the networks' alleged ideological bias. President Trump does not have the power to do so because the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not a government agency under the President's authority and the funds have been appropriated by Congress. PBS and NPR are the nation's primary public broadcasters, and through educational and news content, they reach the vast majority of the country free of charge. These attacks jeopardize the independence of these essential institutions, the ability of all Americans to access high-quality news free of charge, and chill the conduct of media organizations of all types across the country.

The Trump Administration withheld funds that Congress appropriated for aiding democracy world-wide.

In late January, the Trump Administration blocked the National Endowment for Democracy from accessing money administered by the Department of State in an account held by the Department of the Treasury. The National Endowment for Democracy's funding is separate from the foreign aid funding the Trump Administration has tried to pause by executive order. The inability of the National Endowment for Democracy to access its funding from Congress has forced it to stop funding millions of dollars of projects strengthening democratic institutions around the world. Its grantees have had to end their work building a free press, documenting human rights abuses, combatting corruption, and ensuring fair elections in dozens of countries. This funding pause will diminish efforts to protect and promote democracy worldwide.

"Department of Government Efficiency" officials have swept through federal agencies, compromising data systems and undermining the privacy of millions of Americans.

Since Donald Trump assumed the presidency on January 20th, staff with Elon Musk's so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) have swept through federal agencies across the government, compromising data systems, and undermining the privacy of millions of Americans. As examples, DOGE has accessed some of the most protected information systems housed at the Treasury Department, the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services (including the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services), Social Security Administration, and numerous others. There is a risk that Musk will use this data to give an advantage to his own business ventures. There is also a risk that his team has fed the data into an AI system with unknown privacy protections.

The Trump administration has taken a series of actions to illegally dismantle USAID.

Since January 20th, President Trump and his administration have taken a series of actions to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in violation of federal law. Shortly after taking office, the administration issued stop-work orders on USAID foreign assistance awards. Secretary of State Rubio was subsequently named Acting Director of USAID. Elon Musk's so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) has played a key role in this effort. DOGE staff reportedly demanded access to classified USAID systems without requisite security clearances; USAID security officials who attempted to block them were placed on administrative leave. Elon Musk posted on February 3 that he spent the previous weekend “feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” and that same day, USAID headquarters shut down. The consequences of the above actions have been catastrophic. USAID provides life-saving food, medicine, and support to hundreds of thousands of people across the world. It also supports U.S. farmers by buying U.S. agriculture to distribute internationally.

The Trump administration has targeted and purged FBI and DOJ officials who played a role in investigations and prosecutions related to January 6th.

Since Donald Trump took office on January 20th, 2025, the administration has summarily removed Justice Department (DOJ) prosecutors from their positions who played a role in investigations and prosecutions related to the January 6th insurrection. And there has been a concerted effort to target and remove Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents who aided in these investigations and prosecutions, and even potentially to expose these agents' names to the public. This purge of law enforcement officials reinforces that no one will be held accountable for the events of January 6th. It also politicizes DOJ and the FBI. The potential exposure of the FBI agents' names could jeopardizes the lives of these agents and other federal government officials who have been unfairly attacked simply for doing their jobs.