
Trump reclassifies some federal workers, making them easier to fire
The new classification, called Schedule G, will be for employees involved in policy making who will now be expected to leave their positions when the president who appointed them leaves office, according to a White House fact sheet.
The White House did not provide details on how many workers would be put into this new classification.
Earlier this year, Trump signaled the change, saying the federal government will finally be "run like a business."
The executive order will likely strip vast numbers of the roughly 2.3 million federal workforce of their job protections by effectively making them employees at will.
Trump ordered the reclassification of many government workers at the end of his first term, known as Schedule F, which former Democratic President Joe Biden rescinded on his first day in office in 2021.
Estimates then were that Schedule F could have made at least 50,000 federal workers vulnerable to being fired.
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Daily Mirror
19 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Donald Trump asks for 'all' Epstein grand jury testimony in huge U-turn as he slams 'scam'
Donald Trump has instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release produce "any and all" grand jury testimony related to the sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein. Amid a surge of discontent from his supporters, President Donald Trump has directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to disclose "any and all" grand jury evidence pertaining to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation. "Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to court approval. This SCAM perpetrated by the Democrats should end, right now! ," Trump declared on Truth Social Thursday evening. Bondi promptly replied to the President's command, stating on X: "President Trump-we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts." It is unclear at this time what information could come out from any unsealed grand jury testimony but Trump has been desperate to put the case of Epstein to bed after the Department of Justice said last week in an unsigned memo that there is no supposed Epstein "client list". The memo also said the DOJ would not be releasing any further evidence in the sex trafficking case against Epstein. Trump on Wednesday, lashed out at many of his supporters who have refused to drop the matter, calling them "weaklings' and saying they are falling for what he is now calling the Epstein "hoax." 'Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this 'bull——,' hook, line, and sinker,' Trump wrote Wednesday on his Truth Social site, using an expletive in his post. 'They haven't learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.' 'Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!' he went on. There is no evidence former Democratic officials tampered with the documents or played any role in promoting conspiracies about the files, which members of Trump's administration stoked for years. The schism centers on the administration's handling of documents related to Epstein, who was found dead in his New York jail cell in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on sex trafficking charges. Bondi had previously said upon taking office that the "client list" was "on her desk" which is likely why the anger over the unsigned memo has largely been directed at her.


BBC News
19 minutes ago
- BBC News
Germany's Merz admits Europe was free-riding on the US
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has accepted US accusations that Europe was doing too little to fund its own defence and security, but now believes they are on the same page."We know we have to do more on our own and we have been free-riders in the past," he told the BBC's Today Programme, "they're asking us to do more and we are doing more."Merz was in the UK to boost defence ties with Germany, as part of a historic friendship treaty that also aims to tackle irregular migration and promote youth war with Ukraine has framed the early weeks of his chancellorship, as has US President Donald Trump's threat to impose 30% import tariffs on European Union exports from 1 August. Merz told Nick Robinson, in his first UK broadcast interview as chancellor, that he had now met Trump three times and they were on good speaking terms: "I think President Trump is on the same page; we are trying to bring this war to an end.""We are on the phone once a week; we are co-ordinating our efforts. One issue is the war in Ukraine, and the second is our trade debates and tariffs."Merz was a vocal supporter of Ukraine on the campaign trail, and visited Kyiv months before he took Germany's centre-right Christian Democrats to victory in elections in days after he was sworn in early in May, he was on a train to Kyiv in a show of solidarity with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron of France."We are seeing a big threat, and the threat is Russia. And this threat is not only on Ukraine. It's on our peace, on our freedom, on the political order of Europe," he the run-up to the German elections, US Vice-President JD Vance shocked an audience at the Munich Security Conference with a list of accusations against European allies, including the on the remarks, Merz said the government "had to draw our consequences out of that". The message from Vance's "very open manner" had, in other words, been heard loud and clear. Canan Atilgan of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in London which is closely affiliated to Merz's party believes that had a profound effect on the incoming chancellor: "I think in Munich he thought we lost the Americans - we have to look after ourselves - and then Zelensky in the Oval Office happened." Even before he had been sworn in, the chancellor steered through a change in the German constitution to enable a huge rise in defence spending, saying the rule now for German defence was to do whatever it takes."We are not strong enough, our army is not strong enough, so that's the reason why we are spending a lot of money," he said in his BBC the UK, Germany and France are working on a triangular alliance of major European powers, dubbed the E3, which Merz says will focus not just on security and foreign policy but on economic growth as chancellor said he was now "very close with Keir Starmer" and with the French president too. Macron is due to visit him in Berlin next French leader signed a wide-ranging treaty with Germany in Aachen in 2019, and last week he agreed a deeper defence pact during a state visit to the UK, so the UK-German friendship treaty completes a triangle of bilateral in the plush surroundings of the German embassy, Friedrich Merz was about to head to the Victoria and Albert Museum to sign the pact with the Prime Minister. Merz said the bilateral treaty renewed the two allies' commitment to defend each other - which is not just part of the Nato treaty but was also previously part of their alliance when the UK was in the and German firms already collaborate in making products such as Typhoon Eurofighter jets and Boxer armoured vehicles, and the two governments have agreed to launch joint export campaigns that Downing Street believes could attract billions of are also developing a missile with a range of 2,000km (1,250 miles) and the chancellor later told a press conference that Ukraine would soon receive substantial additional support in "long-range fire".Merz, 69, is regarded as a strong believer in the transatlantic alliance and knows the US well from his years outside politics working for an American investment on the night of his election victory he declared that the Trump administration was "largely indifferent to the fate of Europe", a remark seen at the time as undiplomatic for a if he had since changed his mind, he said he had not, as Trump was "not as clear and as committed as former US presidents were, former US administrations were". The Americans were moving away from Europe and turning to Asia, he observed, and that was why it was important to look at greater independence from American UK has largely escaped the turbulence surrounding US tariffs on its exports, but the European Union is facing a deadline less than two weeks away, and the threat of 30% tariffs on all its trade negotiator Maroš Šefčovič travelled to Washington this week in search of a deal that would spare all 27 member states from a surge in US import sees the high tariffs as unacceptable and killing Germany's export industry."My observation is that the president himself is seeing the challenges and that he is willing to come to an agreement. He gets it." Another important element of the UK-German treaty is Berlin's agreement to change the law to criminalise smugglers storing small boats in Germany for use in illegal Channel crossings. The storage of boats in Germany was revealed by a BBC investigation last chancellor said his government would "do our homework immediately" and expected it would not take long to push through parliament after the summer are also plans for a direct rail link from London to Berlin, and for British and German students to take part in exchanges, which have declined since said he very much hoped that the first people who might see a practical difference from the friendship treaty would be students, so that the younger generation could drive relations between the two allies in the future.


Reuters
19 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump asks for release of grand jury documents in Epstein case
WASHINGTON, July 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will ask a court to allow the release of grand jury testimony in the case of deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after some of his supporters reacted in fury to a report concluding there was no evidence to support long-running theories about his case. "Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval. This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Shortly after Trump's statement, Bondi said on X that the Justice Department was ready to ask the court on Friday to unseal the grand jury transcripts. "President Trump - we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts," Bondi wrote. Some Trump supporters have raised questions about Epstein, the disgraced financier, after the Justice Department this month concluded that there was no evidence, opens new tab to support a number of long-held conspiracy theories about his clients and 2019 death in prison. Bondi had pledged months earlier to reveal major revelations about Epstein, including "a lot of names" and "a lot of flight logs." Some Trump supporters have demanded the release of more information on Epstein, causing a rare fracture within his base of support. Trump has pushed back, calling the matter a hoax. Allegations that Epstein had been sexually abusing girls became public in 2006 and he was arrested that year before accepting a plea deal. Epstein died in 2019 in jail after he was arrested a second time and charged with sex-trafficking conspiracy.