A federal judge has issued an order to temporarily block the Trump administration’s plan to place thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development employees on leave at midnight.
The decision came after a union of government employees sued the Trump administration to restart operations at USAID and resume the flow of foreign aid frozen by President Trump.
Trump froze USAID's operations after massive fraud and corruption were discovered with the agency distributing billions of taxpayer dollars to obviously fraudulent programs.
Judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, put a hold on the government from placing over 2,000 USAID employees on administrative leave before February 14th.
This sets up a contentious battle between the Trump administration and government unions over purging thousands of workers who have overseen the robbery of the American people for decades.
The lawsuit was brought by the American Foreign Service Association and American Federation of Government Employees who argued that the Trump administration was engaged in an “ongoing, illegal scheme to gut" USAID.
The lawsuit is correct in claiming that Trump's intention is to "gut" USAID but where the lawsuit is incorrect is its assertion that Trump's actions are illegal.
As Trump is the head of the executive branch, he has sweeping powers to make changes to federal agencies and how they are run.
The effort to destroy USAID is being led by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which struck without warning by shutting employees out of internal systems and email and recalling thousands of workers to the United States.
Trump himself stated, "When you look at USAID, the whole thing is a fraud. Very little put to good use. Every single line that I look at is either corrupt or ridiculous.
USAID was established in 1961 via executive order by President John F. Kennedy which is part of Trump's defense of shuttering the agency unilaterally. Elon Musk pointed this out in a post to X saying, "Live by executive order, die by executive order."
Countering Musk's point on executive orders is the fact that USAID was codified by Congress in 1998 which sets up a potential battle between Congress and the White House.
However, both the Senate and the House are controlled by the GOP which means that Trump will have their backing in dismantling USAID. Many congressional Republicans have already indicated that they support what Trump is doing to clean up corruption.
Congressional Democrats have vowed to fight for USAID with everything they have. Democrats are so hysterical about the dismantling of USAID that it's worth wondering how many prominent Democrats have been enriched by taxpayer dollars funneled through USAID.
