Trump administration reportedly planning to cut 2,145 Nasa employees
According to documents obtained by Politico, most employees leaving are in senior-level government ranks, depriving the agency of decades of experience as part of a push to slash the size of the federal government through early retirement, buyouts and deferred resignations.
The documents indicate that 1,818 of the staff currently serve in core mission areas, such as science or human space flight, while the others work in mission support roles including information technology, or IT.
Related: Trump names Sean Duffy as interim Nasa head after rejecting Elon Musk ally
Asked about the proposed cuts, agency spokesperson Bethany Stevens told Reuters: 'NASA remains committed to our mission as we work within a more prioritized budget.'
Since Trump returned to office in January, planning in the US space industry and among Nasa's workforce of 18,000 people has been thrown into chaos by the layoffs and proposed budget cuts for fiscal year 2026 that would cancel dozens of science programs.
Last week, seven former heads of Nasa's Science Mission Directorate signed a joint letter to Congress condemning the White House's proposed 47% cuts to Nasa science activities in its 2026 budget proposal. In the letter, the former officials urged the House appropriations committee 'to preserve US leadership in space exploration and reject the unprecedented cuts to space science concocted by the White House's Budget Director, Russ Vought'.
'The economics of these proposed cuts ignore a fundamental truth: investments in NASA science have been and are a powerful driver of the U.S. economy and technological leadership,' the letter read. 'In our former roles leading NASA's space science enterprise, we consistently saw skilled teams innovate in the face of seemingly impossible goals, including landing a car-sized rover on Mars with pinpoint precision, build a massive telescope that can unfold in the vacuum of space to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos, design and operate a spacecraft hardy enough to survive temperatures of many thousands of degrees at the Sun, inspiring young and old alike worldwide by the stunning images from the Hubble Space Telescope, and pioneering the use of small satellites for science.'
Related: Trump delays plan to cut satellite data access crucial to hurricane forecasting
They also warned that the cuts threatened to cede US leadership to China: 'Global space competition extends far past Moon and Mars exploration. The Chinese space science program is aggressive, ambitious, and well-funded. It is proposing missions to return samples from Mars, explore Neptune, monitor climate change for the benefit of the Chinese industry and population, and peer into the universe – all activities that the FY 2026 NASA budget proposal indicates the US will abandon.'
Nasa also remains without a confirmed administrator, since the Trump administration abruptly withdrew its nominee, the billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman, in an apparent act of retaliation against Elon Musk, who had proposed his nomination.
In a social media post attacking Musk on Sunday, Trump wrote that he thought it would have been thought 'inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon's corporate life'.
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Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Clarence Page: Is the Jeffrey Epstein scandal finally behind us? Don't bet on it.
When a reporter asked Attorney General Pam Bondi about the Jeffrey Epstein investigation on Tuesday, President Donald Trump could not contain himself a moment longer. 'Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?' he said, pushing back against the question. 'This guy's been talked about for years. … Are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable.' It was a day after the Justice Department concluded the convicted sex offender died by an unassisted suicide — not by foul play, as countless rumor-mongers and conspiracy theorists had alleged. Sorry, conspiracy junkies. The DOJ uncovered none of the rumored 'client list' of powerful friends from both parties who in the world of paranoid politics were widely speculated to have reasons to silence Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein was accused of trafficking and sexually abusing dozens of underage girls. In 2008, he pleaded guilty in a Florida state court to two charges: procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and solicitation of prostitution. This was part of a controversial plea deal with federal prosecutors that allowed him to avoid federal charges. In 2019, Epstein was arrested again — this time by federal authorities in New York — and charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. He died by suicide in a Manhattan jail a month later while awaiting trial. Yet this case, like any other 'heater,' as prosecutors often call an attention-grabbing case, is not about to slip far out of the rumor mills and conspiracy theorists across party lines. Whether they exist or not, 'the Epstein files' became a story in themselves, unfettered by anything as mundane as a lack of evidence, and easily available to be weaponized by various factions. The files found their way into the news more recently as Trump's feud with his former ally Elon Musk heated up. The billionaire entrepreneur claimed that the Trump administration had withheld the 'files' because the president was named in them. Well, who wasn't named in the 'files,' if you believe the rumors? I don't believe them, but in the age of social media, the never-ending cascade of information and misinformation at least offers some entertainment value if you don't take it too seriously. Yet it's ironic that the reporter's question about Epstein provoked the president of the United States into an on-camera hissy fit. I also detect a measure of cosmic justice. After all, it was Trump who made a campaign promise to open the 'Epstein files' in what he implied would be a day of comeuppance for his political enemies. In the annals of American politics, you would strain to find a figure who made more effective use of innuendo than Trump, who first became a darling of right-wing conspiratorialists around 2010 by promoting lies about Barack Obama's birth in the United States. Since the salad days of 'birtherism,' we have witnessed a flowering of outlandishly paranoid politics as social media platforms prioritized audience engagement over such antiquated notions as accuracy in the design of their algorithms. This era saw the launch of a new generation of media stars liberated from any editorial authority that might submit their assertions to a fact check. Unsurprisingly, the rising conspiracy media elite loved Donald Trump, and he loved them right back. As a candidate in the 2016 election, and as president, he made frequent reference in support of any number of conspiracies, and he counted luminaries such as Alex Jones (of InfoWars, retailer of the Sandy Hook 'hoax' slander) and Jack Posobiec (a promoter of the 'Pizzagate' conspiracy) among his most fervent loyalists. Trump depended on their loyalty when he promoted the Big Lie of the stolen election in 2020, which in turn led to an insurrection at the Capitol and the gravest threat to constitutional rule in the United States since the Civil War. More recently, another leading light of conspiracy, Laura Loomer, gained notoriety for her weirdly intimate influence over Trump before he took office in his second term, prompting him to fire a list of aides whom she found objectionable. This interlude itself launched numerous conspiracy theories. Oddly enough, now Loomer finds herself at the center of the 'Epstein files' brouhaha, feuding with Bondi, whom she derisively calls 'Blondi,' over the attorney general's supposed lack of diligence in the Epstein case. And so it goes for a political movement that has become increasingly contemptuous of the truth — and that has dragged one of our nation's two parties with it. Historian Richard Hofstadter was a pioneer observer of what he called 'The Paranoid Style in American Politics,' which he described in a 1964 Harper's Magazine analysis of the use of loose facts and pseudo-facts to build an alternative reality for political ends. He was inspired partly by conservative Republican Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign that year. Goldwater lost the campaign against President Lyndon B. Johnson, who led a landslide in a nation still shaken by President John F. Kennedy's assassination, but history shows that loss led to the conservative ascendancy and Republican recovery that continues today. The DOJ memo says no one else involved in the Epstein case will be charged. Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking and related offenses. Is this a significant turn in the political firmament, or is it merely an indication that Trump's tactical use of conspiracy theories is having unintended consequences? It's hard to say, but it may not bode well that his administration is stuffed with conspiracy theorists, including two — FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino — who have pushed the 'Epstein files' narrative. I don't expect much in the way of reliable revelations, but news is a business that tries to prepare for the unexpected — with healthy skepticism. More likely, we might find out who are the grifters, the shills and the suckers in this con game. As an old-school journo, I still rely on the advice of the old Chicago City News Bureau slogan: If your mother says she loves you, check it out — especially if it arrives in a tweet.
an hour ago
Australia PM Albanese kicks off China visit focused on trade
BEIJING -- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese kicked off a visit to China this weekend meant to shore up trade relations between the two countries. Albanese met with Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining on Sunday, the first in a series of high-level exchanges that will include meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji of the National People's Congress. Albanese is leading 'a very large business delegation' to China, which speaks to the importance of the economic relations between Australia and China, he told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN upon his arrival in Shanghai Saturday. During a weeklong trip, Albanese is set to meet business, tourism and sport representatives in Shanghai and Chengdu including a CEO roundtable Tuesday in Beijing, his office said. It is Albanese's second visit to China since his center-left Labor Party government was first elected in 2022. The party was reelected in May with an increased majority. Albanese has managed to persuade Beijing to remove a series of official and unofficial trade barriers introduced under the previous conservative government that cost Australian exporters more than 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year. Beijing severed communications with the previous administration over issues including Australia's calls for an independent inquiry into the origins of and responses to COVID-19. But Albanese wants to reduce Australia's economic dependence on China, a free trade partner. 'My government has worked very hard to diversify trade … and to increase our relationships with other countries in the region, including India and Indonesia and the ASEAN countries,' Albanese said before his visit, referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 'But the relationship with China is an important one, as is our relationships when it comes to exports with the north Asian economies of South Korea and Japan,' he added. Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency, in an editorial Sunday, described China's relationship with Australia as 'steadily improving' and undergoing 'fresh momentum.' 'There are no fundamental conflicts of interest between China and Australia,' the editorial stated. 'By managing differences through mutual respect and focusing on shared interests, the two sides can achieve common prosperity and benefit.'
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Trump was shot a year ago today. The conspiracy theories about it persist
President Donald Trump said he turned to look at a chart displayed at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13, 2024, when pops rang out as a shooter on a nearby roof fired eight shots toward the then-candidate. The footage from the incident shows Trump flinch, raise his hand to his ear, and check it to find blood before crouching down behind the lectern. He appeared in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a few days later to accept the Republican presidential nomination with a bandage on his ear. The FBI later deemed that a bullet had struck Trump in the ear, either whole or fragmented, though unfounded conspiracies initially questioned if it was glass or some other piece of shrapnel that injured the president. But a year later, the conspiracy theories haven't stopped. A quick scroll through X shows close-ups of Trump's ear comparing recent and old photos and false theories that the assassination attempt was staged. Here is what we do know about the shooting, and what questions remain: More: One year after Trump's attempted assassination, how politics has changed The first assassination attempt of Donald Trump: What happened? On July 13, 2024, Trump was speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a gunman positioned on a rooftop near the rally fired multiple shots toward the then-presidential candidate. Trump was shot in the ear and ducked behind the lectern as Secret Service agents swarmed him and ushered him off stage. However, they did not get him out of public sight before he raised a fist in the air as blood streaked down his face in a photo moment that would be a defining image of his campaign. The shooter was later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, and he was killed by law enforcement. Crooks appeared to have acted alone and did not belong to any particular political leanings. A spectator at the rally was killed, and two were critically injured. Was Trump really shot? Yes, multiple pieces of evidence show Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet. A bipartisan congressional task force was created in the weeks following the first attempt to "investigate all actions by any agency, department, officer, or employee of the federal government, as well as state and local law enforcement (LLE) or any other state or local government or private entities or individuals, related to the attempted assassination," according to a December report from the task force. A timeline of events included in the report shows Crooks fired three shots at 6:11 p.m., with one round hitting Trump's ear before his detail immediately covered his body. A few seconds later, Crooks fired five more shots, the report stated. A week after the shooting, Trump's previous White House physician Rep. Ronny Jackson issued a memo on Trump's injury. "The bullet passed, coming less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear," the memo posted to X read. "The bullet track produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear." Dr. Anthony Fauci said on CNN that the doctors' reports indicated it would just be a surface-level wound with no further complications. Trump has mentioned multiple times that he still experiences a "throbbing feeling" in his ear where he was shot. Remaining questions focus on the security shortcomings Between the incident in Butler and a second apparent attempt on Trump's life two months later at his golf course in Florida, some Republicans also stirred up conspiracies about the shooting. Trump himself blamed Democrats for the plots while on the campaign trail. The congressional task force report argued that the Secret Service and other federal agencies failed in some of their planning, execution and leadership. The Secret Service also said on July 10 it disciplined six staffers with suspensions without pay between 10 days and six weeks, and it was implementing some of the recommendations from the congressional report. Trump, now in office, said he was briefed by multiple agencies on the shooting in a previewed clip of an interview with daughter-in-law Lara Trump. "They briefed me and I'm satisfied with it," Trump said on Fox News' "My View with Lara Trump." "There were mistakes made, and that shouldn't have happened ... I have great confidence in these people." But Rep. Mike Kelly, the Pennsylvania Republican who chaired the task force, said he was continuing to push for more answers about the agencies' failures. "We can't quit on it because we never got the answers," Kelly said in June in an interview with the USA TODAY Network at his Butler office. "The public deserves to know what happened that day." Contributing: Zac Anderson, Matthew Rink, Bart Jansen, Josh Meyer, Jeanine Santucci, David Jackson, USA TODAY Network Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@ Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @
