Firings, freezes and layoffs: A look at Trump's moves against federal employees and programs

[January 29, 2025]  By MEG KINNARD

CHAPIN, S.C. (AP) — Changeover among federal government agencies is normal when a new administration comes to Washington, with presidents regularly dismissing appointees selected by predecessors from opposing political parties. But President Donald Trump has implemented sweeping changes in the first days of his second administration, from firing career agency employees to freezing trillions in federal grant funds and halting diversity, equity and inclusion programs that could result in wide-ranging layoffs.

At least 240 employees are known to have been fired, reassigned, or designated to be laid off. Thousands of employees could be affected by other moves, such as a federal employee buyout offer, or the grant funds pause.

Here's a comprehensive look at Trump's actions so far:

Federal employee buyouts

On Tuesday, the White House abruptly began offering buyouts to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by next week, according to a memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources agency.

The memo, which noted that employees who leave their posts voluntarily will receive about seven months of salary — but must chose to do so by Feb. 6 — listed four directives it said Trump is mandating for the federal workforce, including that most workers return to their offices full-time.

The potential large-scale reduction in the federal workforce could have wide-ranging — and as yet unknowable — implications for impacting the delivery, timeliness and effectiveness of federal services across the nation.

The federal government employs more than 3 million people, which makes it roughly the 15th largest workforce in the nation. The average tenure for a federal employee is 11.8 years, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center of data from the Office of Personnel Management.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The federal agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination, the EEOC describes itself as a bipartisan commission comprised of five members, all appointed by presidents. On Tuesday, a law firm posted on social media that it was representing Charlotte Burrows, a commissioner who had been fired on Monday by the Trump administration.

In a statement issued through the firm, Burrows said that she had been appointed in 2015, serving under Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as during Trump’s first term. According to Burrows, her third term was set to expire in July 2028.

Burrows also noted that Jocelyn Samuels, another commission member appointed by a Democratic president — Biden — had also been fired as Trump took office, saying their removals were “unprecedented and will undermine the efforts of this independent agency to do the important work of protecting employees from discrimination, supporting employers’ compliance efforts, and expanding public awareness and understanding of federal employment laws.”

Inspectors general

Each of the federal government's largest agencies has its own inspector general who is supposed to conduct objective audits, prevent fraud and promote efficiency.

Trump has fired at least 17 of them across the federal government, including inspectors he appointed in his first term. At least one Democratic appointee — Michael Horowitz, appointed to the post at the Justice Department by Obama — was spared.

Trump confirmed the move in a conversation with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, claiming, “it’s a very common thing to do,” and saying that he would “put good people in there that will be very good.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the firings a “chilling purge,” while GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, a top Trump ally, acknowledged that the firings may have violated the law but said: “Just tell them you need to follow the law next time."

Federal prosecutors

It's normal for politically appointed U.S. attorneys to be replaced, but not as standard for career prosecutors to be ousted.

The Justice Department said Monday that it had fired more than a dozen employees who worked on criminal prosecutions of Trump, abrupt terminations targeting career prosecutors who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s team investigating Trump. The firings were effective immediately.

By tradition, career employees remain with the department across presidential administrations regardless of their involvement in sensitive investigations.

Multiple senior career officials were also reassigned.

It was not immediately clear which prosecutors were affected by the order, or how many who worked on the investigations into Trump remained with the department as Trump took office last week. It was also not immediately known how many of the fired prosecutors intended to challenge the terminations by arguing that the department had cast aside civil service protections afforded to federal employees.

National Security Council

The National Security Council provides national security and foreign policy advice to the president. Last week, 160 of its career government, nonpolitical employees were sent home while the administration reviews staffing in an attempt to align with Trump's priorities.

The employees, commonly referred to as detailees, were summoned for an all-staff call and told they would be expected to be available to the council’s senior directors but would not need to report to the White House.

President Donald Trump speaks at the 2025 House Republican Members Conference Dinner at Trump National Doral Miami in Doral, Fla., Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz had signaled before Inauguration Day that he would look to return holdover civil servants who worked in the council during Biden’s administration to their home agencies. That was meant to ensure the council is staffed by those who support Trump’s goals.

State Department

A large number of senior career diplomats who served in politically appointed leadership positions — as well as in lower-level posts at the State Department — left their jobs at the demand of the new administration.

It was not immediately clear how many non-political appointees were being asked to leave.

Foreign aid and development

In his first week in office, Trump issued an executive order directing a 90-day pause on most U.S. foreign assistance disbursed through the State Department. That mean thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide stopped work or were preparing to do so; without funds to pay staff, aid organizations were laying off hundreds of employees.

A week into the new administration, at least 56 senior officials in the top U.S. aid and development agency were placed on leave amid an investigation into an alleged effort to thwart Trump’s move. Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, a current official and a former official at the U.S. Agency for International Development confirmed to The Associated Press the reason given for the move and also said that several hundred contractors based in Washington and elsewhere were laid off.

An internal USAID notice sent late Monday and obtained by AP said new acting administrator Jason Gray had identified “several actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the President’s Executive Orders and the mandate from the American people.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has specifically exempted only emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt from the freeze on foreign assistance.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

On his second day back at the White House, Trump moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off.

That move followed an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs that could touch on everything from anti-bias training to funding for minority farmers and homeowners, programs Trump has called “discrimination.”

That action revokes an order issued by President Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It’s using one of the key tools utilized by the Biden administration to promote DEI programs across the private sector — pushing their use by federal contractors — to now eradicate them.

While many changes may take months or even years to implement, prominent companies from Walmart to Facebook have already scaled back or ended some of their diversity practices in response to Trump’s election and conservative-backed lawsuits against them.

By Friday, federal agencies are expected to develop a plan to execute a “reduction-in-force action” against federal DEI workers in their employ as of Election Day.

Federal grants and loans

The White House said Tuesday it was pausing federal grants and loans as Trump's administration begins an across-the-board ideological review.

The funding freeze by the Republican administration could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted.

“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” said a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Democrats and independent organizations swiftly criticized the administration, describing its actions as capricious and illegal because Congress had already authorized the funding.

National Labor Relations Board

A federal agency, the National Labor Relations Board is tasked with preventing unfair labor practices by employers and unions, and protecting the rights of private sector employees. On Tuesday, Trump fired its acting chair, Gwynne Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve as an NLRB member, according to Josh Boxerman, of the National Employment Law Project.

Wilcox's term as a board member was set to run through August 2028. According to national labor law, board members can only be fired for neglect of duty or malfeasance.

In a statement to Bloomberg, which first reported her firing, Wilcox said she believed her removal violates “long-standing Supreme Court precedent" and that she would “be pursuing all legal avenues to challenge” it.

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Ellen Knickmeyer, Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

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