(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Capitol Police and the U.S. Secret Service hosted what officials say was one of the nation’s largest civil disturbance unit trainings, with more than 600 officers taking part.
The exercise, held Friday at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Laurel, Maryland, drew officers from more than a dozen state, county and city agencies, with other federal partners including National Guard and Homeland Security observing the drills — an effort formed by the security concerns of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Capitol Police Officer Aaron Davis, who responded on Jan. 6, helped lead the exercises.
“We want it to be as real as possible, we wanted this to be the environment where we make our mistakes,” he said. “We want to be able to say, ‘Hey, this is what we did wrong, this is what we need to correct.’”
Capitol Police Assistant Chief Sean Gallagher said the agency is preparing for unprecedented dangers.
“We’ve taken lessons of the past, incorporated them into these scenarios, the goal with this is to be proactive, not reactive, to be ready for anything that should occur on Capitol grounds,” Gallagher said.
The training marked the third joint exercise between Capitol Police and the Secret Service, according to law enforcement leaders.
Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan said the event has helped strengthen interagency ties.
“Training like this is incredibly important; this is the opportunity to build relationships,” Sullivan said.
Officers rotated through seven scenario-based drills, including a simulated riot where protesters hurled wooden blocks meant to simulate bricks, bottles and trash while chanting. Trainers also staged simultaneous situations, such as protecting a lawmaker while confronting a suspicious man nearby who turned out to have a gun.
The training featured drones, bike and foot patrols, and armored officers with shields and batons. A Secret Service mobile command vehicle with satellite internet coordinated responses across multiple radio frequencies and even had the capability to deploy its own drone.
Both agencies emphasized that they continue to meet with advocacy groups before, during and after demonstrations. Capitol Police also highlighted its new “dialogue unit,” which works with protest organizers ahead of events to ensure demonstrations remain peaceful while maintaining better communication with advocacy groups for safer outcomes.
(DOHA, Qatar) — Five members of Hamas and a member of Qatar’s Internal Security Force were killed Tuesday in an Israeli strike on Doha, Qatar, targeting senior Hamas leadership in the country for ceasefire talks, according to statements from officials on each side.
Among the Hamas members killed were the son of a senior Hamas leader Dr. Khalil Al-Hayya — the head of the Hamas movement in Gaza and the head of the negotiating team for Hamas in the ongoing negotiations with Israel — and an aide to the leader. Al-Hayya himself, an apparent target of the strike, survived, according to Hamas.
“This crime represents an attack on the sovereignty of the sister State of Qatar, which, alongside sister Egypt, plays an important and responsible role in sponsoring mediation and efforts aimed at halting the aggression and reaching a ceasefire and prisoner-exchange agreement,” Hamas said in a statement Tuesday.
“It once again exposes the criminal nature of the occupation and its intent to undermine any chances of reaching an agreement. We affirm that the enemy has failed to assassinate the brothers in the negotiating delegation,” Hamas said.
There were “a number of injuries” among Qatari security personnel from the strike, Qatar’s Ministry of the Interior said.
“The competent authorities continue to survey and secure the targeted area using the explosives unit of the Internal Security Force,” the Ministry of the Interior said.
In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said airstrikes targeting Hamas leadership in Doha were “completely justified in light of the fact that this Hamas leadership was the one who initiated and organized the October 7 massacre, and has not stopped launching murderous actions against the State of Israel and its citizens since then, including taking responsibility for the murder of our citizens in yesterday’s attack in Jerusalem.”
President Donald Trump said in a statement read by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt that the U.S. “feels badly” about the location of the attack and adds that “unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace does not advance Israel or America’s goals.”
When asked when the administration learned about the attack, Leavitt said, “This morning, just before the attack.” Qatar said they heard from an American official about the attack as the explosions were taking place.
But, Trump said he “believes that this can serve as an opportunity for peace, and he’s still actively and aggressively pursuing it.”
Israel told the U.S. military it planned to strike Hamas in advance, but didn’t provide a location or other specifics in advance, a U.S. official told ABC News.
The vague notification left the military to discern on its own that explosions in Qatar were the result of Israeli action, the official said. The official declined to say when exactly the U.S. received the warning from Israel, noting only “it wasn’t sufficient enough to adequately warn regional partners.”
Netanyahu’s office said the action against top Hamas leadership was a “wholly independent Israeli operation.”
“Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility,” Netanyahu’s office said.
Netanyahu said he “convened the heads of Israel’s security organizations” at noon Tuesday and “authorized a surgical precision strike” on Hamas leadership.
“For years, these members of the Hamas leadership have led the terrorist organization’s operations, are directly responsible for the brutal October 7th massacre, and have been orchestrating and managing the war against the State of Israel,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
Trump also spoke to Netanyahu after the attack, the White House said.
“The prime minister told President Trump that he wants to make peace and quickly. President Trump believes this unfortunate incident could serve as an opportunity for peace. The president also spoke to the emir and prime minister of Qatar and thanked them for their support and friendship to our country. He assured them that such a thing will not happen again on their soil,” Leavitt said.
When asked whether Trump is upset with Netanyahu for these strikes on U.S. soil, Leavitt said Trump made his opinions clear to Netanyahu.
“The State of Qatar condemns in the strongest terms the cowardly Israeli attack targeting the residential headquarters of several members of the Hamas Political Bureau in the Qatari capital, Doha. This criminal attack constitutes a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms and a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents of Qatar,” a spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on X.
However, Qatar said it will continue to mediate the ceasefire talks.
Qatar said its agencies immediately responded to the incident.
“While the State of Qatar strongly condemns this attack, it affirms that it will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior, its continued tampering with regional security, or any action targeting its security and sovereignty. Investigations are underway at the highest level, and further details will be announced as soon as they become available,” the spokesperson said.
The U.S. Embassy in Doha has issued a shelter-in-place order for their facilities due to the missile strikes.
“U.S. citizens are advised to shelter-in-place and monitor USEmbassyDoha social media for updates,” the embassy said in a statement on X.
A U.S. defense official said, “We’re aware of these reports but do not have any additional information to provide.”
“U.S. forces did not participate in the strikes,” according to a U.S. official.
Qatar is home to the largest U.S. military base in the region. Al Udeid Air Base was attacked by Iran in June in retaliation for U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, with Qatari forces helping the U.S. to intercept the missiles.
Hamas leadership and its primary negotiators have been based in Doha for years while trying to get a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
“Prior to the strike, measures were taken in order to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and additional intelligence,” the IDF said.
World leaders condemned Israel’s attack on Doha, including United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“We are just learning about the Israeli attacks in Qatar, a country that has been playing a very positive role to achieve a ceasefire and the release of all hostages. I condemn this flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar. All parties must work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire, not destroying it,” Guterres said.
“The evidence is clear. Excessive military spending does not guarantee peace. It often undermines it, fueling arms race, deepening mistrust, and diverting resources from the very foundations of stability. A more secure world begins by investing at least as much in fighting poverty as we do in fighting wars,” he added.
The United Kingdom and France condemned Israel’s strikes in Doha in separate statements.
“Today’s Israeli air strikes in Qatar are unacceptable under any circumstances, whatever the justification,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement.
Egyptian officials called on the international community to “assume its legal and moral responsibilities regarding this flagrant Israeli violation, to take immediate action to halt the Israeli aggression, and to hold those responsible accountable, so that it does not add to Israel’s usual impunity.”
“The attack targeted a meeting of Palestinian leaders in the Qatari capital, Doha, to discuss ways to reach a ceasefire agreement. This attack is a flagrant violation of international law and the principles of respect for the sovereignty of states and the sanctity of their territories,” Egyptian officials said in a statement.
“Egypt affirms that this attack sets a dangerous precedent and an unacceptable development and constitutes a direct assault on the sovereignty of the sisterly State of Qatar, which plays a pivotal role in mediation efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Egypt also believes that this escalation undermines international efforts aimed at calming the situation and threatens security and stability in the entire region,” the country added.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman condemned Israel’s attack targeting Hamas leadership in Doha, calling it a “criminal act” and a “flagrant violation of international laws,” in a statement released by the Saudi Press Agency.
The United Arab Emirates’ Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, deputy prime minister and minister foreign affairs, “called on the international community, particularly the Security Council, to take up its legal and moral responsibilities to deter Israel and halt these barbaric Israeli attacks.”
“Continuing such reckless attacks, in the absence of a deterrent and decisive international stance, will have extremely dangerous repercussions for regional and international security and peace, and will cement a reality that cannot be tolerated or accepted,” the UAE said in a statement.
Iran also condemned the attack, calling it a “continuation of the crimes” Israel “has committed by violating all norms and international rules,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement in Farsi.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart, Anne Flaherty, Morgan Winsor, Shannon K. Kingston, Jordana Miller, Kirit Radia and Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Capitol Police and the U.S. Secret Service hosted what officials say was one of the nation’s largest civil disturbance unit trainings, with more than 600 officers taking part.
The exercise, held Friday at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Laurel, Maryland, drew officers from more than a dozen state, county and city agencies, with other federal partners including National Guard and Homeland Security observing the drills — an effort formed by the security concerns of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Capitol Police Officer Aaron Davis, who responded on Jan. 6, helped lead the exercises.
“We want it to be as real as possible, we wanted this to be the environment where we make our mistakes,” he said. “We want to be able to say, ‘Hey, this is what we did wrong, this is what we need to correct.’”
Capitol Police Assistant Chief Sean Gallagher said the agency is preparing for unprecedented dangers.
“We’ve taken lessons of the past, incorporated them into these scenarios, the goal with this is to be proactive, not reactive, to be ready for anything that should occur on Capitol grounds,” Gallagher said.
The training marked the third joint exercise between Capitol Police and the Secret Service, according to law enforcement leaders.
Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan said the event has helped strengthen interagency ties.
“Training like this is incredibly important; this is the opportunity to build relationships,” Sullivan said.
Officers rotated through seven scenario-based drills, including a simulated riot where protesters hurled wooden blocks meant to simulate bricks, bottles and trash while chanting. Trainers also staged simultaneous situations, such as protecting a lawmaker while confronting a suspicious man nearby who turned out to have a gun.
The training featured drones, bike and foot patrols, and armored officers with shields and batons. A Secret Service mobile command vehicle with satellite internet coordinated responses across multiple radio frequencies and even had the capability to deploy its own drone.
Both agencies emphasized that they continue to meet with advocacy groups before, during and after demonstrations. Capitol Police also highlighted its new “dialogue unit,” which works with protest organizers ahead of events to ensure demonstrations remain peaceful while maintaining better communication with advocacy groups for safer outcomes.
(NEW YORK) — High school students, especially 12th graders, are reading and learning math and science at historic lows, according to a new report from the National Assessment of Education Progress.
The new report, known as the Nation’s Report Card, was released Monday by the National Center for Education Statistics, or NCES, and the Department of Education. It is the first nation’s report card to be released since the coronavirus pandemic.
The report shows almost half of high school seniors are now testing below basic levels in math and reading, and approximately 35% are at or above a proficient reading level, while 32% of them had a below “basic” reading proficiency.
By comparison, 37% of high school seniors were reading at or above proficiency in the 2019 report card, and 40% were at or above reading proficiency in 1992.
In math, the report shows only about 22% of 12th graders performing at or above proficiency standards.
The report card also looked at eighth graders and their science ability and found 31% of them were performing at proficient or above proficient standards.
Another key issue the report highlighted was absenteeism, with the number of absent students in schools rising among all age groups since the pandemic.
According to the report card, in 2024, approximately 31% of 12th graders specifically reported missing at least three or more days of school in the previous month, an increase from 2019, when the rate was 26%.
Educators and policymakers say it is critical for parents to stay engaged and regularly check in with students and their teachers about assignments and any absences.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the report’s findings “devastating” in a statement Tuesday.
“Today’s NAEP results confirm a devastating trend: American students are testing at historic lows across all of K-12,” McMahon said, adding, “Despite spending billions annually on numerous K-12 programs, the achievement gap is widening, and more high school seniors are performing below the basic benchmark in math and reading than ever before.”
The Department of Education has notably been cutting staff and services under McMahon’s leadership, including the researchers who produced the new nation’s report card. President Donald Trump has also tasked McMahon with dismantling her department altogether and handing control over education agendas to the states.
“Success isn’t about how much money we spend, but who controls the money and where that money is invested,” she said Tuesday.
Marty West, a professor of education at Harvard University, told ABC News the results are concerning because only a portion of American students are getting the education they deserve.
“What troubles me most about the patterns that we’re seeing is that the declines are largest for our lowest-performing students — those in the bottom quarter of the distribution. Meanwhile, high-scoring students – those at the 90th percentile are doing just about as well as ever,” West said. “So, this really highlights the extent with which American schools right now are really only preparing some students for success at the post-secondary level.”
Prosecutors say Skyler Philippi is seen conducting a test site of a drone in this photo, which was included in a federal complaint. (U.S. Department of Justice)
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — A Tennessee man pleaded guilty Tuesday to plotting to using a weapon of mass destruction in a neo-Nazi-inspired plot to destroy an energy facility near Nashville, the Justice Department announced.
Skyler Philippi, 24, was arrested last November over his plans to attack Nashville’s power grid with a drone armed with explosives. According to the DOJ, charging documents showed Philippi conducted extensive research into how such an attack could serve to “shock the system,” as he relayed to one FBI confidential source who became aware of his plotting.
The FBI first began investigating Philippi last June after a confidential source who was in touch with him reported to the FBI his desire to commit a mass shooting at a YMCA near Columbia, Tennessee, according to prosecutors. Philippi also repeatedly espoused his adherence to white supremacist and accelerationist ideologies which promote the idea that a destabilizing terrorist attack on something like the nation’s energy sectors could serve to incite unrest that leads to civil war, prosecutors said.
“I definitely want to hit Nashville, like one hundred percent, I want to get Nashville,” Philippi said in one meeting recorded by undercover agents, according to charging documents. “I also know Louisville pretty g—— well, since I lived there. I spent about five months scouting out every single place [power station] and even coming up with a game plan to hit it as fast as I could. I had whole maps made, printed out on paper, to actually do that.”
In September of last year, Philippi and undercover FBI employees drove to an electrical substation he had allegedly researched previously. While in transit, Philippi ordered what he believed would be the equivalent of C-4 explosives from the informants, according to charging documents.
During their recon mission to the substation, agents recorded Philippi stating, “Holy s—. This will go up like a f—— Fourth of July firework,” charging documents said.
In a meeting days before his arrest, Philippi participated in a Nordic ritual and told the undercover agents “this is where the New Age begins,” and that it was “time to do something big” that would be remembered “in the annals of history,” according to the charging documents.
Philippi then drove with the FBI employees to the site of his operation and, as the undercover agents moved to their assigned positions as lookouts, he powered up the drone with what he believed was the explosive device attached to it, charging documents said. Philippi was then taken into custody.
The charging documents included one image that shows Philippi conducting a test of the drone, as well as another photo of him with the FBI undercover agents showing off what he believed were explosive devices.
Philippi faces a maximum penalty of life in prison in connection with his guilty plea. Sentencing is currently set for Jan. 8, 2026.
(NEW YORK) — New York City police are searching for the suspect who killed a 77-year-old man and a 78-year-old woman by stabbing them and setting them on fire in their Queens home, likely while searching for property to steal, sources said.
Neighbors reported a man knocking on doors on Monday, asking to charge a cell phone, with at least one neighbor turning the man away before he approached the victim’s house, the sources told ABC News.
Detectives believe they have identified the suspect, who has an extensive criminal record and was released from prison in 2023, sources said.
Surveillance video showed the suspect knocking on the victims’ back door and the 77-year-old victim opening it and letting him in around 10:15 a.m., according to sources.
Detectives believe the suspect spent five hours in the victims’ house, according to sources, likely searching for property to steal before setting it ablaze.
Surveillance video also showed the suspect leaving the home at 3:08 p.m., shortly before the house went up in flames, sources said.
Neighbors called the victim’s son, a New York City Fire Department paramedic who was off duty at the time of the fire, who rushed home to discover his parents dead, sources said.
The fire department responded to the location and put the fire out, the New York Police Department said in a statement. EMS pronounced both victims deceased at the scene.
The woman was found lying on the first floor and accelerant appeared to have been poured on her body, starting the fire, sources said.
The man was found in the basement where he was tied with bungee cords to a column supporting the house, sources said. He was also set on fire but that fire appeared to have extinguished itself, sources said.
The suspect is described as a male, with a dark complexion, approximately 30 to 40 years of age, medium build, and was last seen wearing a black hat, a black jacket, blue jeans, and black sneakers, according to the NYPD.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X @NYPDTips.
Damage caused by the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers condominium building, Surfside, Miami Beach, Florida. (Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — More than four years after the deadly collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex in Surfside, Florida, federal investigators are expected to announce their preliminary findings on Tuesday regarding the cause of the tragedy.
“It is more likely that the collapse initiated in the pool deck than the tower,” a slide deck prepared ahead of today’s National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee meeting states.
Champlain Towers South was an oceanfront complex just north of the Miami Beach city line. The collapse of the structure killed 98 people in the middle of the night in June 2021.
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology have preliminarily concluded that the pool deck started to collapse more than seven minutes before the building fell to the ground, confirming what was suggested in earlier media reports.
The exact cause of the collapse has been under investigation in the years since the incident, but investigators have long focused part of their attention on the pool deck.
“At the time of the failure, the pool deck’s slab-column connections had critically low margins of safety,” the presentation notes. “The bulk of the critically low margins of safety was caused by design understrength and misplaced slab reinforcement.”
Officials noted in their presentation that issues with the pool deck existed from the time Champlain Towers South was built more than four decades ago.
“The structure had low resistance to progressive collapse, allowing the collapse of the pool deck to spread into and throughout the middle and east parts of the tower,” the slides added.
The federal probe into the collapse has been delayed several times. The final investigative report was previously expected to be completed in 2025, but that goal has since been pushed back another year.
The moon rises behind the skyline of lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center as the Tribute in Light is tested ahead of the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York City on September 8, 2025. Gary Hershorn/ABC News
(NEW YORK) — The Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack on the World Trade Center is still killing New York City firefighters 24 years later.
On Tuesday, the New York City Fire Department will remember 39 members who died in the past year of illnesses related to their work during the rescue and recovery efforts at what was then known as The Pile.
Their names will be added to the FDNY World Trade Center Memorial Wall during a Tuesday afternoon ceremony at the department’s Brooklyn headquarters. The inscription on the wall says, “Dedicated to the memory of those who bravely served this department protecting life and property in the City of New York in the rescue and recovery effort at Manhattan Box 5-5-8087 World Trade Center.”
The FDNY has lost more than 400 members to World Trade Center illnesses, surpassing the 343 firefighters killed on 9/11 itself.
Overall, 2,753 people were killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11.
Thursday will mark 24 years since the terror attacks. The annual commemoration ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan will begin at 8:40 a.m. Thursday.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump declined to comment on the letter he allegedly signed for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th “birthday book” in 2003, calling it a “dead issue” when asked by NBC News.
“I don’t comment on something that’s a dead issue. I gave all comments to the staff. It’s a dead issue,” Trump said on Tuesday morning, according to NBC News.
On Monday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released an image of the birthday message allegedly sent by Trump, after the panel received documents and communications from Epstein’s estate.
Trump’s denied writing the letter, calling it “fake” after the Wall Street Journal first reported on the alleged birthday book and the contribution from Trump in mid-July. Trump also filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the newspaper. Dow Jones, the parent company of the Journal, said it has full confidence in the accuracy of the reporting.
The White House on Monday denied the signature on the birthday message belongs to the president.
“As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it. President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X.
Trump hasn’t publicly weighed in on the latest developments beyond his brief comments to NBC News.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, on Tuesday took aim at Democrats on the panel for their handling of the documents received from the Epstein estate.
“The Democrats, they find one thing in there, and they promote it and try to get a narrative. This investigation is about providing justice and accountability for the victims,” Comer said.
Comer also told reporters the committee expects to receive more documents as part of its Epstein probe.
“We’ve got a lot more documents we expect to get in,” he said. “We’re going to bring a lot of people in for deposition, so this investigation is moving along very rapidly, and hopefully we’ll get some answers and some justice very soon.”
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking member on the panel, said after Monday’s disclosure that Trump has more to answer for on the Epstein matter.
“The Oversight Committee has secured the infamous ‘Birthday Book’ that contains a note from President Trump that he has said does not exist,” Garcia said in a statement. “It’s time for the President to tell us the truth about what he knew and release all the Epstein files. The American people are demanding answers.”
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 and charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy and child sex trafficking. He died in custody a month later, while awaiting trial. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.
(NEW YORK) — U.S. employers added far fewer jobs in 2024 and early 2025 than previously thought, indicating the labor market may have been significantly weaker than initial estimates had suggested.
The U.S. economy added 911,000 fewer jobs over the 12 months ending in March than previously estimated, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Tuesday. The figure, which exceeded economists’ expectations, marks the largest revision ever recorded.
The revision, a routine step in the compilation of government labor statistics, assesses monthly survey estimates alongside state unemployment data. The fresh data comes weeks after President Donald Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in response to a weak monthly jobs report.
The scale of the revision announced on Tuesday exceeds a downward reduction in hiring estimates last year that has drawn criticism from Trump in recent weeks.
In that case, the BLS said in August 2024 that U.S. employers had hired 818,000 fewer workers over a previous year-long period. When Trump fired McEntarfer last month hours after the release of monthly jobs data, he mentioned frustration with the annual revision issued in 2024.
“I believe the numbers were phony just like they were before the election, and there were other times,” Trump said, pointing to the revision in the jobs numbers last year that he claimed, without evidence, was an attempt to benefit Democrats heading into the election.
The BLS, a government agency within the Department of Labor, tracks a host of key economic indicators, including widely anticipated hiring and inflation reports released each month.
The BLS releases an initial estimate of its jobs report based on an initial tranche of data, but the agency often revises the figure in subsequent months as households and businesses return additional data. After a slow-moving process of compiling state unemployment data, the agency releases an additional revision teasing out accurate findings.
McEntarfer, a Biden appointee who was confirmed by the Senate in 2024, had served in the federal government for two decades.
“It has been the honor of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy,” McEntarfer said in a social media post after her dismissal. “It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.”
William Beach, a former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who was appointed by Trump, condemned McEntarfer’s dismissal.
“The totally groundless firing of Dr. Erika McEntarfer, my successor as Commissioner of Labor Statistics at BLS, sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau,” Beach posted on X.
McEntarfer did not respond to an earlier ABC News request for comment.
