Attention to the Unseen

NBC News reports: Less than two weeks into his term, President Donald Trump is waging war against his own government, creating a deep sense of fear in the federal workforce — and recipients of federal aid — as he tests the limits of his power to alter the scope, function and nonpartisan nature of government without Congress. Primarily using two little-known agencies — the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management — Trump has tried to…

Read More Read More

NBC News reports: Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll on Friday refused a Justice Department order that he assist in the firing of agents involved in Jan. 6 riot cases, pushing back so forcefully that some FBI officials feared he would be dismissed, multiple current and former FBI officials told NBC News. The Justice Department ultimately did not dismiss Driscoll. He sent out a memo to the workforce Friday night explaining that he had been ordered to remove eight senior FBI…

Read More Read More

Government Executive reports: Following the haphazard rollout Tuesday of a plan the White House claimed offered “buyouts” to nearly the entire federal workforce but ultimately looked more like extended paid leave prior to leaving government, federal employee groups, Democratic lawmakers and good government experts are warning federal workers not to respond to the Trump administration’s “deferred resignation” email. According to the terms of the offer, if a federal employee decides to resign by Feb. 6, they can retain their current…

Read More Read More

Nextgov/FCW reports: The Office of Personnel Management’s recent mass verification email to all civilian federal employees is raising concerns that the Trump administration circumvented longstanding procurement and cybersecurity laws to install an email system used to communicate widely with employees across the government. On Friday, an email landing in employees’ inboxes from the address hr@opm.gov told recipients that it was a “test of a new distribution and response list” and asked them to reply “YES” to it. Many workers noted…

Read More Read More

A federal civil servant writes: The new Trump administration’s effort to both get a grip on and dismantle the federal workforce has also been a dystopian farce, climaxing Tuesday evening, after the Office of Personnel Management sent an email offering what the media has described as a “buyout” to all federal employees. This saga began shortly after Donald Trump took office, when someone asserting the authority of OPM began spamming federal workers with emails demanding a reply. In one breath,…

Read More Read More

Reuters reports: Security agents escorted the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture out of her office on Monday after she refused to comply with her firing by the Trump administration, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Phyllis Fong, a 22-year veteran of the department, had earlier told colleagues that she intended to stay after the White House terminated her Friday, saying that she didn’t believe the administration had followed proper protocols, the sources said. In an email…

Read More Read More

Russell Berman writes: Buried within one of the dozens of executive orders that President Donald Trump issued in his first days in office is a section titled “Terminating the Green New Deal.” As presidential directives go, this one initially seemed like a joke. The Green New Deal exists mostly in the dreams of climate activists; it has never been fully enacted into law. The next line of Trump’s order, however, made clear he is quite serious: “All agencies shall immediately…

Read More Read More

By Doug Bock Clark This story was originally published by ProPublica A Republican judge has spent more than two months trying to overturn his narrow defeat for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat by arguing that around 60,000 ballots should be tossed out. But many residents have only recently learned that their votes are in danger of not being counted and say they have done nothing wrong. ProPublica has heard from dozens of voters who expressed astonishment and anger at…

Read More Read More

Michael J. Kelly writes: After sundown Friday, a new crack appeared in the wall of America’s rule of law. A wall that protected us for two and a half centuries, but that’s showing signs of strain. It is axiomatic that corrupt governments eliminate those responsible for policing corruption. The Friday night massacre of over a dozen inspectors general across the executive branch lays the groundwork for taking over that government from within. The job of an agency or department’s Inspector…

Read More Read More

CNN reports: As President Donald Trump this week sought to rewrite the history of his supporters’ attack on the US Capitol, a database detailing the vast array of criminal charges and successful convictions of January 6 rioters was removed from the Department of Justice’s website. The searchable database served as an easily accessible repository of all January 6, 2021, cases prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The US attorney’s office declined to comment. The removal…

Read More Read More