uh today was yet another really really bad day for Donald Trump in court uh today 24,000 people who Trump has fired from federal government jobs got reinstated thanks to a court order from a federal judge in Maryland this is the lawsuit that was brought by 20 Democratic attorneys general in 19 states in Washington DC this judge's order today forces the reinstatement of again 24,000 people that Trump has fired from 18 different agencies the education department the FDIC which is the agency that provides insurance so your bank deposits are insured and you don't have to worry
about them going away if you put your money in a bank they're going after FDIC too yes they are uh the Commerce Department Health and Human Services Energy Department the VA Interior Department Labor Department USDA General Services Administration um the Small Business Administration the Transportation Department the Treasury the EPA the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau USAD again 24,000 employees fired by the Trump administration from those entities reinstated by that court ruling today and speaking of USA ID um additionally on top of that ruling where USAD employees are reinstated by court order along with all those other
agencies a standalone blockbuster ruling from another federal judge today specifically ordering the Trump administration to reconstitute US ID and stop their efforts to shut it down even to let them back into their building the judge in this case said that the shutdown of USA ID quote likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways and in his very short two-page order today he ordered that the Trump administration must reopen USAID this is from the order this is interesting um quote "For purposes of the order defendants refers to Elon Musk in his official capacity the United
States Doge Service and their officers agents servants employees and attorneys also all individuals who at any time since the inauguration have served in the role of Doge team member or Doge leader regardless of the formal personnel status of that individual so the defendants here everybody associated with Elon Musk and Doge and those defendants are quote enjoined as follows defendant shall reinstate access to email payment security no notification and all other electronic systems including restoring deleted emails to for all current USID employees and contractors whether in active status or on administrative leave meaning for all the
people they've tried to force out of the agency too they need to be reinstated they get all their emails back they get all their systems back defendant shall provide written confirmation to the court that this requirement has been satisfied within 7 days of the date of this order also defendants shall not take any action or engage in any work relating to the shutdown of USA ID including placing employees on administrative leave employee terminations reductions in force contract terminations related to any US ID employees or contractors there can be no termination of USID contracts or grants
no closures of USAID buildings or bureaus or offices no permanent shutdowns or terminations of any USID IT systems within 14 days defendant shall submit to this court a written agreement among all necessary parties that ensures that USAD will be able to reoccupy its building will be able to reoccupy USAD headquarters at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington DC so they all get their jobs back they get back in the building they get all their emails back and all electronic systems related to the operations of that agency including all contracts and everything that applies both to
employees and contractors you need to stand that agency back up because what you have done to shut it down thus far quote likely violated the US Constitution in multiple ways now this of course will be appealed this will not be the final word you know e even if Trump and his top campaign donor Elon Musk continue to lose this badly in court on this case there's no telling how they'll try to finagle their way out of it anyway but you know thinking about thinking about the dimmer switch between democracy and dictatorship the courts here are
drawing a line and for all you know Trump and Musk's sadistic glee about calling these people who work for the US government criminals and you know removing their name from the building and Elon Musk giggling and talking about putting it in a wood chipper for all of their glee and sadism about this stuff they're losing they're losing under US law usid as of today is hereby ordered back into existence under federal law trump was also soundly beaten in court today on his effort to try to throw trans service members out of the military now the
judge's ruling in this case is very measured and calm but it just rips the Trump administration for even trying to say this is legal essentially the judge ruled in this case today that the Trump administration never actually presented a real legal argument for why they think they're allowed to do this they just asserted with no supporting evidence that anybody who's trans by definition is unfit for military service and legally that's not how it works an internal Social Security Administration memo sent Thursday last week details proposed changes to the claims process that would debilitate the agency
cause significant processing delays and prevent many Americans from applying for or receiving benefits the biggest change contemplated in the memo is to require internet identity proofing for any benefit claims made over the phone if a social security recipient is unable to utilize internet ID proofing customers will be required to visit a field office to provide in-person identity documentation many people served by the Social Security Administration cannot access the internet under the new system this would force these populations to visit an office to have their claims processed the memo estimates it would require 75,000 to 85,000
in-person visitors per week to Social Security offices to implement this policy social Security offices currently do not have the resources to handle an influx of in-person appointments of this size they're cutting 7,000 staffers they're shutting dozens of field offices they're ending in-person services at some offices altogether and even before those changes take effect Social Security offices no longer accept walk-ins and right now the wait time for an appointment averages over one month joining us now is Jud Leam he's writer of the independent newsletter Popular Information he's the first person to obtain this memo from Social
Security jud thanks for very much for being with us thank you for this reporting oh well thanks for having me Rachel this just seems like I know we've heard of a lot of changes and proposed changes at Social Security that are freaking a lot of people out people who are recipients of Social Security in particular this seems so unbelievably impractical to me it's hard for me to believe that this is a real prospect that's still on the table do you think that it is yes I know that it is based on the people that I'm
talking to on Social Security this is this is something that's moving through social security very aggressively and the people who are concerned about this memo who brought it to light believe that it is an effort to break the agency i mean this is a huge influx of people to these offices that are already under strain that are now getting as as you mentioned many of them are getting closed there's just no way for them to deal with the number of people who would now need to come into the office to verify their identification so last
night the Doge team run by President Donald Trump's top campaign donor staged a hostile physical takeover of an independent nonprofit called the US Institute of Peace the US Institute of Peace is not a government agency theirs is not a government building um they told the Doge staffers they could not come in that they had no authority over them doge staff then physically forced their way in with the help of the FBI and the DC police congressman Don Byer of Virginia heard what was happening and went there along with his wife he later wrote online quote
I was at the US Institute of Peace tonight to conduct congressional oversight over DOA's break-in usip is an independent nonprofit entity and I will work to stop DOA's illegal power grab joining us now is Congressman Don Byer of Virginia uh Congressman I really appreciate you you being here to talk about this tonight thank you yeah thank you Rachel very much it was very concerning and you laid out the case very well what did you see last night when you went when we got there they had the DC police had already escorted all the staff out
the last person out was the president of the USIP George Moose a longtime US ambassador and he had locked himself in his office to protest the illegal firing of 11 of the USIP board members by Donald Trump and that the DC police actually picked the lock out of his office to get him and take him to the outside the real challenge is that there's something in the law the congressional charter for USIP that says a president can replace a board member with board consultation for committing a felony or some gross malfeasants uh he didn't consult
any board members and certainly there were no felonies what do you make of the use of all these various law enforcement agencies um as as part of these takeovers we saw this with the US Africa Development Foundation um we saw it uh with some of the very early stuff that Doge did we didn't know who they were saying they were going to call on to force their way in but now it seems like they're invoking the US Marshalss the FBI and now the DC police as effectively their muscle as their armed failanks that will physically
force them into places that they may not be legally allowed it It's very concerning it's like what where does Doge get any legitimacy any right to invade a a an independent nonprofit 501c3 rachel there 232,000 501c3 nonprofits in the United States by this measure Donald Trump could send the police or the marshals into any one of them and demand to see their books throw out their people replace their board members uh it's really unprecedented the poor DC police took their orders initially from the acting US attorney this guy Ed Martin who's just a a mega
hatchet man with a lot of personal vendettas and when they were also called by George Moose and the USIP leadership they didn't know who to trust and I guess they looked to the FBI who said "Well you know Trump fired the board members therefore you got to stick with him." Although that was clearly illegal the the takeover and the shutdown of these agencies is being litigated in all sorts of ways in all sorts of places i imagine it will be by USIP and US Africa Development Foundation that one's already in court and all these other
agencies but this issue of what law enforcement is doing turning up with guns and saying "We're taking you out of here physically we're picking the lock we're getting you out and we're doing it on behalf of Doge." That seems like an an area for potential litigation but it also seems like an area for for law enforcement oversight congressional oversight um including of the DC police the FBI the Marshall Service and anybody else who they're using in this capacity do you see any appetite for that among your colleagues on Capitol Hill oh oh very much so
i I I think our busiest committee on Capitol Hill will be the So again one thing I like about Matttow I'm a bit I'm a more of a left-winger than she is but one she does have respect for the left she you know uh often gave Bernie Sanders kudos for being a pioneer but another thing I love about her despite the fact that we both have uh PhDs and approach things as as scholars and not just news people uh even though I'm not a journalist I'm a commentator is she doesn't like to give Trump a
lot of direct voice so while Trump is having like a press thing tonight and Republicans are everywhere swarming around him in the White House you might see clips other places on YouTube i think he's hanging out with uh with with Laura Ingram tonight I think i'm not sure there's weird things happening she's like "No I'm going to instead of that I'm going to come at you during this press conference with my own coverage and my own coverage of your failures and your dangers." And and I think it's important because we do want to show the
evil of Donald Trump people need to see it hiding it doesn't work but there is some value in saying "Look we'll bring you a highly curated rundown of his evil." But we're not going to give him the screen like we did in 2015 and we kind of did in 2020 during the last election I think she made the right choice in saying we're cutting away right now we're cutting away from this press conference or whatnot we're going to do our own show because Donald Trump can't be trusted and doesn't deserve this unedited platform he's not
a normal president and we will not treat him as such and I think more people in the media need to do that she's not perfect but she's better than a lot of mainstream media pundits
