TV News LIES

Dozens of probationary employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had their jobs terminated on Tuesday night, according to the union representing CFPB employees.

CFPB's union has identified approximately 73 "bargaining-unit" employees in their probationary period who were terminated, according to Jasmine Hardy, the executive vice president for NTEU Chapter 335, but is still working to confirm the final numbers. Hardy said she believed non-union employees were also fired.

"We believe this was an illegal firing and we are prepared to take action against it," Hardy said in a statement to NPR. "All we want is to get back to work protecting American consumers and ensure markets for consumer financial products are fair, transparent and competitive. Let us work!"

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Attorney General Pam Bondi swore in Tulsi Gabbard as the director of National Intelligence within hours of the Senate confirming Gabbard's nomination earlier Wednesday.

Bondi administered Gabbard's oath of office in the Oval Office, NBC News reported.

Gabbard was one of President Donald Trump's most controversial Cabinet nominees but was confirmed by the Senate along mostly partisan lines.

Several federal watchdogs fired by Donald Trump have filed a lawsuit against his administration to get their jobs back.

In the suit filed on Wednesday, eight former inspectors general from eight government departments – including defense, veterans affairs, health and human services, state, agriculture, education and labor – and the Small Business Administration said they were seeking “redress for their unlawful and unjustified purported termination” by Trump and their respective agency heads.

The lawsuit states that just four days into his second term, Trump, “acting through a two-sentence email sent by the director or deputy director of the office of presidential personnel, purported to remove from office (supposedly on account of ‘changing priorities’) nearly a score of IGs”.

It also says that the fired officials were “appointed by and/or served under presidents of both parties”, including Trump during his first term.

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A federal judge declined to further pause a federal government buyout program, enabling the government to forge ahead with its “Fork in the Road” program.

U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole had extended the time frame for federal employees to decide whether to take the unusual offer, which gives employees eight months of pay and benefits if they wish to depart government.

In a Wednesday ruling, O’Toole found that the unions who had sued over the directive did not have standing to do so.

The FBI on Tuesday said it had discovered 2,400 new records related to the assassination of former president John F Kennedy as federal agencies work to comply with Donald Trump’s executive order last month to release thousands of files.

The FBI said it’s working to transfer the records to the National Archives and Records Administration to be included in the declassification process.

The federal government in the early 1990s mandated that all documents related to the 22 November 1963 assassination be housed in a single collection at the National Archives. And while the vast majority of the collection – over 5m records – has been made public, researchers estimate that 3,000 files haven’t been released, either in whole or in part.

Joined by Elon Musk in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that seeks to significantly reduce the size of government by instructing heads of federal departments and agencies to undertake plans for "large-scale reductions in force."

Trump's newest order directs the federal government to implement a "workforce optimization initiative" created by Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which has been moving rapidly from one department to another to slash spending and gut programs.

"It's not optional to reduce federal expenses, it's essential," Musk, wearing a black MAGA hat and joined by his son, X, said in remarks standing next to Trump, who was seated behind the Resolute Desk. Musk called the federal bureaucracy an "unelected, fourth, unconstitutional branch of government" that must be held accountable.

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