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‘Paid administrative hell’: Some Department of Education staff put on leave after Trump’s DEI reversal

February 4, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Dozens of Department of Education employees received letters as business hours closed Friday placing them on administrative leave, according to a copy of one letter obtained by ABC News.

While no specific reason was given, some employees told ABC News they believe the only common thread among them is that they attended a voluntary training called the “Diversity Change-Agent Training Program.”

The letter states that the administrative leave notice is not for disciplinary purposes. Rather, it’s being issued under President Donald Trump’s executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and “further guidance” from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, according to the letter.

Per the letter, employees will receive full pay and benefits through the end of the administrative leave. They are not required to do work-related tasks during this time, nor are they required to come into the office. Employees who were placed on leave also had their government email access suspended as they received the letters. There’s no set time for the leave period, according to the letter.

The letters have caused a frenzy throughout the department, as some employees had been locked out of their accounts and had to check their private email addresses for the notice, according to Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252.

Smith told ABC News more than 50 employees in “extremely diverse roles” within the department received the email notices to their government email addresses or their private email accounts after regular business hours over the weekend.

ABC News spoke with three Department of Education employees who received the letters and described their leave as “paid administrative hell” since Friday evening.

“It’s very, very, unsettling,” one department employee of over 20 years, who works in Washington, D.C., told ABC News. “I don’t get it. What’s my crime? What have I done?”

Smith said the positions of Department of Education employees placed on leave run the gamut, from senior civil rights attorneys to attorneys for borrower defense to press specialists. She said she feared more letters would be sent in the coming days.

An attorney who works for the department in Washington, D.C., said they were put on leave from their “dream job.” The employee has two children and received the notice after putting them to bed on Friday night, they said. The person said Friday was tough and the news was shocking to receive, but now they’re feeling “different levels” of sadness.

“My mood felt a little bit different just waking up knowing that I wasn’t going to be working,” the employee told ABC News.

“But I just feel like there’s a lot of information that I’m trying to process and, with small kids, it’s like you’re trying to balance a lot,” the employee added.

The letters came as the Trump administration worked to scrub the federal government’s DEI policies and programs. The president issued an executive order during his first week in office calling on agencies to “combat” private-sector DEI programs.

Trump’s rhetoric — including threatening for months to shutter the Department of Education — has created fear throughout the department, according to Smith.

“People took these jobs because they care about the mission,” Smith told ABC News. “And so it absolutely impacts us. You know, the very thing that brought us to these jobs we’re unable to do.”

The department employee with two small children has worked for the department for just over four years and comes from a family of educators. The employee said education is the “great equalizer,” and the Department of Education benefits everyone.

“I believe in the department,” the department attorney said, adding: “I always wanted to work here.”

In a statement to ABC News, Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications Madi Biedermann said the president was elected to enact “unprecedented reform” that is merit-based and efficient at serving the interests of the American people.

“We are evaluating staffing in line with the commitment to prioritizing meaningful learning ahead of divisive ideology in schools and putting student outcomes above special interests,” Biedermann wrote.

ABC News has reached out to the White House for comment.

Meanwhile, the three department employees who spoke to ABC News said they’re completely stumped on why they were issued administrative leave notices. The department employee with decades of experience in Washington also said it’s puzzling, in part, because during Trump’s first term, managers were evaluated on upholding DEI standards via a department performance rating system.

“We were expected to do DEI,” the employee said. “That’s what Trump and [then-Education Secretary] Betsy DeVos wanted us to do. They wanted to do that. They put it in our [performance] plans. We did not put that in our plans. And not only that, it is in every manager’s plan in the department, not just people that are on administrative leave.”

“Every single person in the Department of Education that’s a supervisor or a manager right now has [DEI] in their performance plan — that is programmed in by the department,” the employee added.

The administrative leave notices may have been tied to a two-day “Diversity Change-Agent Training Program,” a facilitator-led training, according to training document slides obtained by ABC News. The training took place over two days dating as far back as March 2019, under DeVos and during Trump’s first term, according to a February 2019 email obtained by ABC News with the subject “Diversity Change Agent Course.”

The training program aimed to create specific action plans to “drive diversity and inclusion” and increase creativity and innovation. The program also challenged employees to achieve greater results by championing the diversity of its workforce while creating and sustaining an inclusive environment, according to the training document slides.

Another department employee, who took the 2019 training and works remotely out of the New York offices, called the notice “bizarre,” especially since the 2019 training occurred during the president’s first term.

“The whole thing is bizarre,” the department employee told ABC News. “Betsy DeVos — and [Trump’s] prior administration — was a decent champion of these programs, and they didn’t come with any warning to me to say, ‘Hey, taking this training might lead to an adverse personnel action one day,’ right? So it’s just strange how they can retroactively apply something.”

The department employees on leave who spoke to ABC News said they have no official DEI responsibilities in their roles. All three department employees who spoke with ABC News also confirmed the only DEI-like program that would potentially be barred under Trump’s executive order would be the change-agent training sessions.

However, to their knowledge, the three employees on leave said there’s no official list or way of matching the employees on administrative leave with the training programs. Even though they’re convinced these trainings link them to the Trump administration’s definition of DEI, the employees haven’t confirmed why they’re on leave, according to the ones who spoke to ABC News.

The employee who works out of New York has more than a dozen years of experience in administering federal programs. Multiple other employees on administrative leave that this employee spoke to over the weekend said they also took the 2019 training, according to the employee.

“That’s the only thing we can think of that any of us did,” the employee said.

After reaching out to other colleagues with the same titles, the employee in New York said, they “pieced it together.” This employee said they took at least three training programs like the diversity change-agent training program since the initial training.

Trump’s tariffs threaten job losses, experts say. These may be the hardest hit

February 4, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Autoworkers, farmers and alcohol distillers are among a set of U.S. workers who risk losing their jobs as a result of potential tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico, experts told ABC News.

The U.S. president was expected to sign executive orders on Tuesday putting in place the 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% tariffs on those from China, according to the White House.

Trump announced on Monday that the proposed tariffs on most goods from Canada and all products from Mexico would be paused for one month, putting the policies on schedule to take effect in early March. The postponements came following conversations Trump had with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump said Monday afternoon he plans to talk to China in the next day or two about tariffs on that country.

Some U.S. shoppers and economists have raised alarm about the potential for tariff-driven price increases, since importers typically pass along a share of the cost of the higher taxes to consumers.

A lesser-known effect of the potential tariffs, however, could arise as some retailers struggle to sell imported goods at competitive prices while manufacturers reckon with higher costs of raw materials such as car parts and lumber, experts said. Sales could wobble, they added, leading directly to job cuts.

Potential retaliatory tariffs slapped on U.S. exports could prove another cause of layoffs, the experts said, since U.S. firms dependent on selling products overseas risk weakened performance.

“It’s like Trump took a grenade and threw it into the economy, and he walked away to see what happens,” Rob Handfield, professor of operations and supply chain management at North Carolina State University, told ABC News.

The Trump administration did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

In a series of social media posts over the weekend, Trump said the tariffs target Canada, Mexico and China for hosting the manufacture and transport of illicit drugs that end up in the United States. In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump urged the three countries to address his concerns, while acknowledging the tariffs may cause some financial hardship within the U.S.

“WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!). BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID,” Trump wrote.

In recent days, some trade associations and labor unions voiced warnings about tariff-related job losses.

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said small- and medium-sized firms in the sector employing millions of Americans risk “significant disruptions” as a result of potentially high energy prices and costly supply chain workarounds.

“Manufacturers will bear the brunt of these tariffs,” Timmons said, adding that the policies would put “American jobs at risk.”

Distilled Spirits Council, a trade association representing alcohol makers across North America, cautioned that tariffs would harm business in all three countries. “Maintaining fair and reciprocal duty-free access for all distilled spirits is crucial for supporting jobs and shared growth,” the group said.

The risks for U.S. workers are perhaps best demonstrated by the auto industry, which employs about 4 million people, experts said.

U.S. automakers hold deep ties to Canada and Mexico, since products often snake back and forth between the countries before a car reaches full assembly, Christopher Conlon, a professor of economics at New York University who studies trade, told ABC News.

Mexico and Canada make up the top two U.S. trading partners for both finished motor vehicles and car parts, according to a Cato Institute analysis of data from the U.S. International Trade Commission.

“The supply chains involve shipping parts back and forth over the border five times, six times, seven times. If every time a part crosses the Canadian border it gets taxed at 25%, that will add up really quickly,” Conlon said, noting the added costs could hike car prices by as much as $10,000 and, in turn, weaken sales.

“The companies will have to scale back production, and that will mean fewer shifts,” Conlon added.

The production slowdown may lead to job cuts at companies indirectly impacted by the tariffs, such as car dealerships and auto-part sellers, experts said. More than 550,000 workers at car dealerships representing international brands risk losing their jobs if the industry falters due to the tariffs, the American International Automobile Dealers Association told ABC News in a statement.

To be sure, employment may grow in some domestic industries protected by the tariffs, such as the steel and energy sectors, some experts said. Even those businesses, however, may contend with challenges if the tariffs limit consumer demand, they added.

Potential job gains in some sectors would not outweigh the losses in others, Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University, told ABC News.

“It’s very difficult to see a net positive of this in terms of employment for the U.S.,” Miller said.

ABC News’ Ben Siegel contributed to this report.

Marco Rubio says El Salvador’s president agrees to house US criminals in his country’s jails

February 4, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and said the Central American nation has agreed to not only take in deported foreign nationals who committed crimes — but also jailed American citizens and permanent residents.

Rubio called the agreement “an act of extraordinary friendship,” on Monday.

“[Bukele] has agreed to accept for deportation any illegal alien in the United States who is a criminal, from any nationality — be they MS-13 or Tren de Araqua — and house them in his jails,” Rubio declared. “He has offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of U.S. citizens and legal residents.”

Rubio called the deal the “most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world” and said, “no country has ever made an offer of friendship such as this.”

“We are profoundly grateful. I spoke to President Trump about this earlier today. And it’s just one more sign of what an incredible friend we have here in President Bukele and in the people of El Salvador,” Rubio said after they met for more than two-and-a-half hours.

“More details will be forthcoming” about the agreement struck between the United States and El Salvador, said Rubio, before taking an opportunity to praise Bukele’s leadership — describing his polarizing clampdown on El Salvador’s security as “difficult decisions” that had to be made.

President Trump has previously mused about sending repeated offenders abroad, even if they are lawfully in the United States. The president will now need to clear several legal hurdles, given that the Eighth Amendment prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments,” broadly considered to include exile.

Trump to hold private dinner with Republican senators at Mar-A-Lago on Friday

February 4, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is continuing his outreach to Senate Republicans — critical to advancing his Cabinet nominees and aggressive agenda.

ABC News has exclusively obtained an invitation sent to GOP senators and their spouses to have dinner with Trump at Mar-A-Lago on Friday while they are in town for the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s Annual Winter Meeting.

The NRSC, chaired by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, is set to host its annual winter meeting at The Breakers, a hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 7-9. The event is expected to have a record attendance of both Republican senators and donors.

Although the dinner will be with Trump, the Republican National Committee is paying for the event.

The dinner comes following the NRSC announcing in a memo to Republican Senate chiefs of staff Monday morning that it broke a fundraising record in January with $8.5 million raised — more than any other January off-year in committee history.

The memo also noted that the committee is entering the cycle with nearly $24 million in debt and unpaid bills from last cycle and limited cash on hand.

The 2024 election cycle was a good year for Republicans, securing the Senate’s majority by flipping seats in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Montana.

The memo also expressed the committee’s gratitude to White House political staff for briefing the group and shared their hopes of a partnership with them through the cycle.

“We appreciate James [Blair] and Matt [Brasseaux] for making the time to speak with us and we look forward to continuing to partner with them throughout the cycle.”

Blair is currently Trump’s deputy chief of staff at the White House and Brasseaux serves as the Trump administration’s director of the Office of Political Affairs. Blair served as the Trump’s campaign political director and Brasseaux was the deputy political director.

Trump’s invitation to GOP senators is one of many recent efforts to show a strong working relationship. Trump recently hosted breakfast with Republican senators the morning before the inauguration at Blair House and Senate Majority Leader John Thune at the White House just after the inauguration.

With the 2026 midterms a little more than a year and half away, Republicans look to expand their 53-seat majority in the Senate while also defending their seats in the critical states of Maine and North Carolina, represented by GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Thom Tillis.

But the 2026 midterms could prove to be a successful year for the GOP, with chances to flip the Senate seats in Michigan, where Democratic Sen. Gary Peters announced he would not seek reelection and in Georgia, where the race would be made much tighter if GOP Gov. Brian Kemp were to jump in the race against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.

DHS expected to end deportation protection for nearly 350,000 Venezuelans under TPS

February 4, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Nearly 350,000 Venezuelans who gained relief from deportation and obtained work permits in 2023 under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will lose those protections in April, according to an unpublished notice filed in the Federal Register.

Last week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced she was canceling a recent extension of the program by former Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas which would have allowed nearly 600,000 current Venezuelan TPS holders to maintain their legal status until October 2026. She had until Feb. 1 to decide whether she’d extend protections for those who joined the program in 2023.

Now, nearly 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants may lose their legal status if they don’t have any other type of relief.

The program began in 1990 as a way to protect immigrants who are already in the United States when their home countries are deemed to dangerous to return to. TPS is under the DHS Secretary’s discretion.

In the notice, DHS acknowledges that some of the conditions in Venezuela that the Biden administration used to justify TPS designation in 2023, “may continue.” However, they claim things have gotten better in the country.

“There are notable improvements in several areas such as the economy, public health, and crime that allow for these nationals to be safely returned to their home country,” the notice file says.

The agency adds that Sec. Noem “has determined it is contrary to the national interest to permit the covered Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States.”

The notice is set to publish Feb. 5 and says the termination of the 2023 TPS Venezuela designation will be effective 60 days from date of publication, however, protections were already set to expire April 2 without an extension.

In a letter to Noem last week, a group of Democratic lawmakers said returning Venezuelan immigrants “to a dictatorship” would be a “death sentence.”

“Given Venezuela’s increased instability, repression, and lack of safety, and within all applicable rules and regulations, we demand more information on why the Department has made this decision,” the lawmakers said. “The only justification that has been offered by the Administration is the false claim that all Venezuelans are ‘dirt bags,’ ‘violent criminals’ or the ‘worst of the worst.'”

Immigrant advocates are also sounding the alarm about the move some consider “cruel” and “reckless.”

“Donald Trump’s attempt to revoke protections for 300,000 Venezuelans is as cruel as it is reckless — but we know he won’t stop here. His shock-and-awe approach to dismantling the immigration system is already devastating families and communities across the country, and we’re likely to see immigrants from Ukraine and Afghanistan targeted next,” Keri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, told ABC News.

“Families who have built their lives here — who work, contribute, and play by the rules — are under attack, being thrown into crisis overnight and forced from their homes. This isn’t about policy; it’s about inflicting harm at any cost.” Talbot added.

The termination does not apply to Venezuelans who registered under the 2021 TPS designation, those protections will remain in effect until Sept. 10, 2025.

5 shot at school in Sweden, police say

February 4, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — At least five people were shot on Tuesday at a school in Sweden, police said.

“The extent of the injuries is unclear,” police said. “The operation is still ongoing.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.

Amid search for victims, crews begin delicate removal of wreckage from the Potomac

February 4, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Even as crews continued to comb the Potomac River for the remains of victims, the Army Corps of Engineers began on Monday the delicate task of removing from the frigid water the wreckage of American Airlines Flight 5342 and a military Black Hawk helicopter that collided in midair last week near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

With the roar of commercial jets taking off and landing from the airport’s nearby runway, and against the backdrop of the U.S. Capitol Building, the salvage operation began at the crack of dawn, officials said.

A large crane on a barge in the middle of the icy river had lifted one of the passenger plane’s engines and the aircraft’s crumpled fuselage from the river by noon, Col. Francis Pera of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, said at a news conference Monday afternoon. He said crews began lifting a wing of the passenger plane from the water at about 2:30 p.m.

The pieces were moved to a flatbed trailer to be taken on Tuesday to a nearby hanger where investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will search for answers to what caused the deadliest U.S. air disaster in 16 years.

Pera said the goal for Tuesday is to bring the jet’s cockpit to the surface.

The crash killed 64 passengers and crew aboard the regional jet and the three-person flight crew aboard the Black Hawk, which was on a nighttime training mission when it crashed into the jet, officials said.

At least 55 victims have been removed from the river and positively identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, D.C. Assistant Fire Chief Gary Steen said at Monday afternoon’s news conference.

“Our process is committed to the dignified recovery of the remains of personnel and passengers of the flight,” Pera said.

During Monday’s operation, several work stoppages were ordered to recover multiple sets of remains amid the wreckage, Pera said. Those remains were removed and taken to the medical examiner for identification.

“Should any remains be found during our process, an automatic work stoppage happens and we will definitely begin to begin the proper coordination with the appropriate authorities. Reuniting those lost in the tragic incident is really what keeps us all going. We’ve got teams that have been working this since the beginning and we’re committed to making this happen,” Pera said.

He added that preparation for the salvage operation began on Friday, with divers equipped with multiple cameras surveying the submerged wreckage, focusing on large pieces of wreckage to remove from the river first. He said that during the survey on Saturday, remains were also recovered from the water.

“I just want to make sure that everyone is crystal clear in understanding that all salvage operations will be completed in close coordination with the Unified Command, all of our partners just really to ensure strict adherence to our central priority that the dignified recovery of missing flight passengers and personnel takes precedence,” Pera said at a news conference on Sunday.

Crews working with multiple agencies, including the Navy and 200 members of the U.S. Coast Guard, conducted rehearsals on the best way to remove the wreckage while simultaneously preparing for the discovery of more victims, according to Pera.

“We’ve got a wide debris field. Within that wide debris field, we’re employing different techniques to make sure we understand what’s in the water,” Pera said.

Family members of the crash victims were driven to the banks of the Potomac River on Sunday to pay respects to their lost loved ones. Among those killed in the crash were a civil rights attorney, a biology professor, several champion figure skaters and many others.

“These people have suffered a terrible loss and they’re grieving and I think that that’s exactly what you’d expect,” said Fire Chief John Donnelly of the Washington, D.C., Fire Department, who has visited with the families. “There’s a whole range of emotions in that. I would say they are a strong group of families that are focused on getting their loved ones back, and I think that’s the appropriate place to be at this point.”

If pieces of wreckage removed from the water contain remains, those pieces will be moved close to a barge and a tent will be erected so “we have full discretion and then we will bring in proper personnel to deal with at the time,” Pera explained.

Donnelly said that local teams will continue to search the shoreline and around the river to make sure that all the debris is collected.

“And if by chance as a member of the public you come across some of that, you should call 911 and report it to them and we will get it taken care of and get it examined,” Donnelly said.

Donnelly called the salvage and recovery mission a “tough operation” for those doing the work. He said each agency supporting the mission has peer counselors to help divers and others working to clear the river to cope with the grim task.

“For our first responders, all of the people that are coming in here to support, this is a tough operation — and if you are a responder listening to this, we want you to know that you can have a lot of different feelings about this, and there are people out here to help you,” Donnelly said.

Why shutting down USAID could have major impacts on Gaza aid

February 4, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — International aid organizations are warning that humanitarian efforts in Gaza would be severely impacted if the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is shut down by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Musk said he was “in the process” of “shutting down” the agency — which oversees foreign aid, disaster relief and international development programs — and that President Donald Trump agreed with him.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday that he had been appointed acting director of USAID, saying the agency is “not functioning” and that it needs to be aligned with U.S. national interests.

Alex Smith, a former contractor for USAID who advised on nutrition, child health and maternal health, told ABC News that the dismantling of the agency could have a major impact on aid in Gaza.

“It’s going to be devastating,” said Smith, who left the agency last year. “You know, countries are already trying to figure out how they’re going to fill the gaps, but they just don’t have the money, and finding new donors could take years.”

Smith noted that the Trump administration said previous federal funding freezes wouldn’t affect emergency food programs, but that the USAID also provides humanitarian assistance on other fronts.

“There’s a lot more than food aid that USAID does. That’s a kind of common misconception — that all we do is just drop off big bucks and food,” he said. “It’s about fighting infectious disease, malaria, TB, HIV all over the world. You know, with the conditions in Gaza as they are, we’ve seen some polio. It’s very likely that cholera is already there and it’s going to get worse. So we used to have a lot of programs to try to combat those specific infectious diseases.”

Jesse Marks, senior advocate for the Middle East at the humanitarian organization Refugees International, told ABC News he’s worried the stoppage of aid from USAID could put the Israel-Hamas ceasefire in jeopardy.

“An aid freeze in general, but particularly for Gaza, threatens to undermine what has already been a fragile ceasefire, and the potential for phase two and phase three release of hostages,” Marks said.

“I think one of the facets of this that people are not necessarily connecting is that the humanitarian access to Gaza — which is underpinned by USAID, State Department funds — was a central feature of the bargain that underpins ceasefire,” he continued. “So, if you remove aid to Gaza, whether directly or as a second-order effect of the aid freeze, this raises the risk of a broader ceasefire collapse.”

USAID has been contributing aid to Gaza and the West Bank since at least 2021, with increased aid after the Israel-Hamas war broke out.

In November 2024, USAID announced it was providing $230 million in additional funding “to support economic recovery and development programs in the West Bank and Gaza.” It has given more than $2.1 billion in humanitarian assistance since Oct. 7, 2023.

The U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs said funding from USAID would allow the agency’s partners to provide food assistance, emergency health care and psychosocial services, and could help with providing access to clean drinking water, hygiene products and sanitation services.

In a statement to ABC News last week, the nonprofit International Medical Corps (IMC) said it had received $68 million from USAID to set up and run two large field hospitals in Gaza so it could treat more than 33,000 civilians per month.

The spokesperson also rejected claims from a U.S. State Department official that IMC had used funding from USAID to procure or distribute condoms.

USAID was partly responsible for renewed international pressure on Israel to increase the flow of aid into Gaza.

In April 2024, USAID Administrator Samantha Power testified before Congress, stating that parts of Gaza were experiencing a famine and that conditions were “as dire as any I have seen in my career.”

Her assessment came after a March 2024 report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification that famine was “imminent” in northern Gaza and the entire population was experiencing high levels of food insecurity.

Later that day, Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters that Israel was constructing a new land crossing from Israel into northern Gaza to facilitate more aid deliveries based on previous promises made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Aid organizations including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors without Borders, and Oxfam, a group made up of 21 independent NGOs, have called on the U.S. government to halt the shutdown of USAID.

“Dismantling USAID would be a callous, destructive political power play that would have deadly consequences for millions of people living in dire humanitarian emergencies and extreme poverty,” Abby Maxman, Oxfam America president and CEO, said in a statement.

ABC News’ Katherine Faulders, Shannon Kingston, MaryAlice Parks and Will Steakin contributed to this report.

Trump order to dismantle the education department in the works, sources say

February 4, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump could soon sign an executive order directing the secretary of education to dismantle the federal Department of Education, according to sources briefed on drafts of the order that have circulated among top administration officials.

The proposed order gutting the agency is expected to call for the education secretary to submit a proposal for dismantling the department and for Congress to pass legislation to get rid of it.

The timing on when Trump plans to sign the order remains unclear, but sources familiar with the process told ABC News that conversations about the future of the department have been actively occurring.

Closing down the department would be an extraordinary move that would help Trump inch closer to fulfilling the promise that he made for months on the campaign trail: dismantling it and sending education policy back to the states.

But any executive action is likely to ask for a plan to shut down the department, but not an immediate directive to shut down the department, sources told ABC News.

It’s also unclear how the next education secretary would handle plans to close the department and reallocate its functions. Trump’s education secretary choice Linda McMahon has not yet had a Senate confirmation hearing. A bill in the Senate to shutter the department would likely fail without a two-thirds majority vote.

Trump and department skeptics have said they believe the agency has too much spending power — more than $20 billion in the 2025 fiscal year — without adequate academic results. The Nation’s Report Card highlighted the widening achievement gap and sliding reading scores for fourth- and eighth-grade students.

Trump last week signed executive orders defending parental rights and prioritizing universal school choice, combating antisemitism and cutting federal funding for K-12 “indoctrination.”

Conservatives dating back to President Ronald Reagan have campaigned on the promise of closing the Education Department. It’s also recently become a bicameral push from Republicans on Capitol Hill.

The news comes as dozens of Department of Education employees received letters placing them on administrative paid leave over the weekend as the department takes steps to issue unprecedented reform.

Trump’s rhetoric — including threatening for months to shutter the department — has now made some department employees worried about the agency’s future, according to an employee who said they’ve been placed on administrative leave from their “dream job.”

“It feels like it could happen, so it’s very disturbing,” the employee said.

China counters Trump by announcing new tariffs, saying it ‘firmly opposes’ US plan

February 4, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(HONG KONG and LONDON) — Select American goods imported into China will be subject to tariffs of up to 15%, Chinese officials said Tuesday, as they rolled out a series of retaliatory measures to counteract U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs.

China said it would on Feb. 10 impose a 15% tariff on U.S. coal and liquefied natural gas, along with a 10% tariff on other products, including crude oil, agricultural machinery and pickup trucks.

“China firmly opposes the U.S. practice and urges the United States to correct its wrong practices immediately,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

The move came as the deadline passed for Trump’s 10% tariffs on Chinese goods imported into the United States. Trump was expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday putting those tariffs into effect, according to the White House.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to talk in “the next couple days,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday. It was unclear whether that discussion would happen prior to the Chinese tariffs going into effect next week.

The leaders last spoke in January, prior to Trump’s inauguration, as the U.S. ban on social media app TikTok was set to take effect.

Trump on Feb. 1 announced tariffs against the United States’ three largest trading partners, saying he would put in place 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, along with 10% tariffs on those from China, according to the White House.

Those duties had been expected to be put in place on Tuesday, although Trump and the leaders of Canada and Mexico announced on Monday that Trump’s administration had paused plans for both North American trading partners for a month.

China in the days since Trump’s announcement had said the tariffs on Chinese exports amounted to a serious violation of World Trade Organization rules, with officials adding that the tariffs were “of a bad nature.” The U.S. tariffs were “typical unilateralism and trade protectionism,” the Beijing’s commerce officials said Tuesday.

China said it had brought the U.S. tariffs to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.

“The U.S. practice seriously undermines the rules-based multilateral trading system, undermines the foundation of economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States and disrupts the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain,” the Ministry of Commerce said.

China’s State Council Tariff Commission released a list of 72 items that would fall under the10% tariffs. Much of that list was related to agriculture, including several types of tractors, harvesters and other large pieces of farming equipment.

The list of U.S. imports that will be subject to 15% tariffs was far shorter, listing just eight types of coal and natural gas.

As Trump introduced the tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China last week, the White House positioned them as a “bold action” that would hold the three countries “accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country.”

Canada responded with a threat of tariffs of its own. Mexico announced on Monday a plan to send troops to its border with the U.S.

U.S. officials also described the tariffs as a point of leverage for the Trump administration against China, pointing to the president’s first-term announcement that he would at that time place tariffs on Chinese goods.

During that trade war in 2018 and 2019, “President Trump acted with conviction to impose tariffs on imports from China, using that leverage to reach a historic bilateral economic agreement,” the White House said on Friday.

ABC News’ Selina Wang contributed to this report.

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