Trump Purge of ‘Virtually the Entire USAID Workforce’ to Begin Sunday Night After Clearing Legal Challenge

The Trump administration will fire 2,000 United States Agency for International Development employees and place thousands more on leave Sunday after a judge ruled President Donald Trump has the authority to make cuts at the agency.

According to CNN’s Kevin Liptak, the cuts will go into effect late Sunday night and cover “virtually the entire USAID workforce.”

Liptak joined his network’s Sunday evening coverage with details about the purge after network anchor Jessica Dean broke the news.

USAID employees received an email at 2:42 p.m. ET that read, “All USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally.”

Liptak reported:

Last week, a federal judge clearing the way for the administration to essentially decimate the ranks of this agency. And today, agency officials learning that virtually the entire USAID workforce will be placed on administrative leave, receiving in an email a notification that as of midnight tonight, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership, and or specifically designated programs will be placed on administrative leave globally.

In addition, the agency says that 2,000 people who work for USAID will be fired as part of this effort to really strip that agency of all of its power. Already, you’ve seen the administration remove the signs from that agency’s headquarters just over town at the Ronald Reagan Building. You’ve seen a number of officials already being stripped of their duties inside that agency. What Elon Musk and Donald Trump say they’re doing is trying to eliminate liberal programs, programs that they allege are fraud. But when you talk to people who work at USAID who advocate for its programs, they say that this could cause serious hardships not only for the officials who are working for the American government abroad, but for the people whose benefit this agency has been to their benefit.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled in the Trump administration’s favor on the issue of massive cuts at USAID following a series of legal challenges.

Watch above via CNN.