From the Trump administration’s latest moves abroad and in the US – here are the key US political stories from Thursday at a glance
Thursday saw a judge rule that the Trump administration can continue the mass firing of US federal workers, rejecting a bid by labor unions to stop the US president dramatically cutting the jobs of many of the 2.3 million people employed by the government. The IRS began laying off roughly 7,000 workers on Thursday.
In his 16-page order, US district judge Christopher Cooper started by saying that Trump’s executive actions had “caused, some say by design, disruption and even chaos in widespread quarters of American society”.
Here are the biggest stories in US politics on Thursday, 20 February.
Trump administration can continue mass firings, judge rules
The Trump administration can for now continue its mass firings of federal employees, a federal judge ruled on Thursday, rejecting a bid by a group of labour unions to halt Donald Trump’s dramatic downsizing of the roughly 2.3 million-strong federal workforce.
The unions are seeking to block eight agencies including the Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Department of Veterans Affairs from implementing mass layoffs.
Trump official tells Ukraine to stop criticism
A White House official has told Ukraine to stop bad-mouthing Donald Trump and to sign a deal handing over half of the country’s mineral wealth to the US, saying a failure to do so would be unacceptable. The US national security adviser, Mike Waltz, told Fox News that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, should “tone down” his criticism of the US and take a “hard look” at the deal. It proposes giving Washington $500bn worth of natural resources, including oil and gas.
Vance doubles down on Ukraine and Europe’s stance
JD Vance reaffirmed his claims that uncontrolled immigration was “the greatest threat” to Europe and the United States in a speech at CPAC. The vice president also dismissed concerns about the Trump administration’s stance on Ukraine as “moralistic garbage”.
Source: The Guardian
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