USAID workers at Washington HQ told to stay home on Monday in unexpected, early-morning email
CNN
The main office of the US Agency for International Development in Washington was unexpectedly closed Monday and workers were emailed shortly after midnight that they should not come in, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The main office of the US Agency for International Development in Washington was unexpectedly closed Monday and workers were emailed shortly after midnight that they should not come in, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. “At the direction of Agency leadership, the USAID headquarters at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C. will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, February 3, 2025. Agency personnel normally assigned to work at USAID headquarters will work remotely tomorrow, with the exception of personnel with essential on-site and building maintenance functions individually contacted by senior leadership,” said the email, of which CNN has obtained a copy. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk said President Donald Trump has said USAID needs to be “shut down,” following days of speculation over the future of the agency after its funding was frozen and dozens of its employees were put on leave. Meanwhile, USAID logos and photos showing the humanitarian work the agency does around the globe were removed from its offices last week, multiple sources familiar with the situation told CNN. “All of the visuals have been taken down. These are like large-scale photos of our work in developing countries that are in our lobbies, in our galleys, in communal kitchens, hallways,” a USAID employee said. “An order also came down to individual bureaus and offices to remove all USAID artwork and signage.” Another USAID worker told CNN: “They’ve taken the photos off the walls, and we’re missing half of our colleagues because our colleagues are gone and have been let go, and everyone sort of feels like they’re walking around with a target on their back.”
Unpaid Transportation Security Administration workers are struggling to stay afloat – and on the job – amid a partial government shutdown that has frustrated travelers inching through security lines that stretch for hours, with wait times only expected to worsen this weekend.
As Havana calls on Cuban exiles to invest in the island, many in the United States are rejecting the offer outright, viewing it as a desperate move by a government under mounting pressure.
After weeks of stalemate — and mounting airport delays nationwide — leaders in both parties are scrambling to work out a deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, though it remains unclear if a compromise is in reach.
Trump administration officials are making a desperate push to secure every available barrel of oil amid a worsening energy crisis — even if it means lifting sanctions on the very country that they’re fighting against.
A federal judge on Friday voided various parts of a restrictive press policy rolled out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last year, ruling that they trampled on the constitutional rights of reporters who seek to cover the US military from within its sprawling headquarters.
President Donald Trump is reshaping a Colorado Republican primary by offering one of the candidates a role in his administration and returning his endorsement to the incumbent, whom he called a “RINO” just last month.
More than a month into the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are reckoning with their own travel privileges amid anxieties the funding crunch could exacerbate issues at already understaffed airports around the country.
TV host and comedian Bill Maher has been chosen to receive the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, two sources close to the Kennedy Center told CNN.
Conventional wisdom has set in that President Donald Trump’s base is sticking with him on the Iran war, but he has alienated significant portions of his voters — and risks alienating more.
US officials are furiously trying to avert a potential monthslong closure of the Strait of Hormuz, privately acknowledging that reopening the key waterway is a problem without a clear solution and dependent at least in part on what lengths President Donald Trump is willing to go to force the Iranian regime’s hand, multiple administration and intelligence officials tell CNN.
The chief executive of Live Nation testified Thursday that it was “disgusting” that a top ticketing employee talked about “robbing fans blind” in internal messages.
Supreme Court revives First Amendment lawsuit from street preacher who called concertgoers ‘sissies’
The Supreme Court on Friday revived a First Amendment lawsuit from a street preacher who used a loudspeaker to call people “whores,” “Jezebels” and “sissies” as they tried to enter an amphitheater to attend concerts in a suburban Mississippi community.
As millions of Americans braced for a series of brutal storms this winter, the senior official in charge of the federal government’s disaster response had been on the job only a few weeks — and had previously claimed on podcasts that he once teleported to a Waffle House.