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The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Trump's EPA eliminates research and development office and begins layoffs
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Friday it is eliminating its research and development arm and reducing agency staff by thousands of employees. One union leader said the moves 'will devastate public health in our country'. The agency's office of research and development (ORD) has long provided the scientific underpinnings for the EPA's mission to protect the environment and human health. The EPA said in May it would shift its scientific expertise and research efforts to program offices that focus on major issues such as air and water. The agency said on Friday it is creating a new office of applied science and environmental solutions that will allow it to focus on research and science 'more than ever before'. Once fully implemented, the changes will save the EPA nearly $750m, officials said. Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, the top Democrat on the House science committee, called the elimination of the research office 'a travesty'. 'The Trump administration is firing hardworking scientists while employing political appointees whose job it is to lie incessantly to Congress and to the American people,' she said. 'The obliteration of ORD will have generational impacts on Americans' health and safety.' EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement that the changes announced Friday would ensure the agency 'is better equipped than ever to deliver on our core mission of protecting human health and the environment, while Powering the Great American Comeback'. The EPA also said it is beginning the process to eliminate thousands of jobs, following asupreme court ruling last week that cleared the way for Donald Trump's plans to downsize the federal workforce, despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs. Total staffing at EPA will go down to 12,448, a reduction of more than 3,700 employees, or nearly 23%, from staffing levels in January when Trump took office, the agency said. 'This reduction in force will ensure we can better fulfill that mission while being responsible stewards of your hard-earned tax dollars,' Zeldin said, using a government term for mass firings. The office of research and development 'is the heart and brain of the EPA', said Justin Chen, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents thousands of EPA employees. 'Without it, we don't have the means to assess impacts upon human health and the environment,' Chen said. 'Its destruction will devastate public health in our country.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion The research office – EPA's main science arm – currently has 1,540 positions, excluding special government employees and public health officers, according to agency documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the House science panel earlier this year. As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists could be laid off, the documents indicated. The research office has 10 facilities across the country, stretching from Florida and North Carolina to Oregon. An EPA spokeswoman said that all laboratory functions currently conducted by the research office will continue. In addition to the reduction in force, the agency also is offering the third round of deferred resignations for eligible employees, including research office staff, spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou said. The application period is open until 25 July. The EPA's announcement comes two weeks after the agency put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a 'declaration of dissent' with agency policies under the Trump administration. The agency accused the employees of 'unlawfully undermining' Trump's agenda. In a letter made public on 30June, the employees wrote that the EPA is no longer living up to its mission to protect human health and the environment. The letter represented rare public criticism from agency employees who knew they could face retaliation for speaking out. Associated Press contributed to reporting
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Insane oversight in the Democratic Party's autopsy of the disastrous 2024 election
The Democratic party plans to dissect what exactly went wrong in the 2024 presidential election - with two glaring exceptions in the analysis. The 'after-action review' commissioned by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) won't question the timing of President Biden's decision to stand down shortly before the election, people with knowledge of the findings told The New York Times. The review will also steer clear of finding out whether Kamala Harris was the best pick to replace Biden following his disastrous debate performance against President Donald Trump, those briefed on its progress also told the outlet. It won't look into her campaign or the decision by staffers to frame it as a choice between democracy and fascism. Officials told the outlet that it will examine the election as a whole and not on the campaign, instead looking at actions taken by groups associated with the party, with a focus on super PACs that funded the campaigns of Biden and Harris. The Times reported that blame would be thrown at Future Forward, the party's main super PAC. Those briefed on its contents said that the group, w ho spent $560 million to support the two presidential hopefuls spent too much propping up Harris and not on attacking Trump. The group's advertising approach is to be criticized as being too focused on television programs and not effective. DNC spokesperson Rosemary Boeglin told the outlet: 'The DNC's post-election review is not a finger-pointing exercise, it's about bringing together Democrats across the ecosystem to adopt an actionable playbook to win, not just for 2026 and 2028, but to dominate for cycles to come. 'Democrats are clear-eyed about the challenges facing the party—many of which are rooted well before the 2024 cycle—and it requires all of us to make structural changes in how we run campaigns.' The review was started in March and has not yet been finalized, it is expected to be released this fall. After Trump won the election and made his return to the White House, Biden has continued to face questions over his mental decline while in office. The 82-year-old is facing a Republican led investigation probing the extent of the Democratic president's decline was understood by his top staffers. The investigation has focused on former staffers who would be privy to the most sensitive presidential discussions and his use of an autopen to sign documents. Biden has denied the claims being pushed by Trump that he did not have the focus to make decision as president. He told The Times: 'I understand why Trump would think that, because obviously, I guess, he doesn't focus much. Anyway, so - yes, I made every decision.' While being questioned by lawmakers, Biden's personal physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, and Jill Biden's longtime aide Anthony Bernal, have all pleaded the fifth amendment protections in recent weeks. Oversight Chairman James Comer noted that there's a pattern beginning to emerge after Biden's former deputy chief of staff and senior adviser Annie Tomasini also pleaded the fifth this week. 'There is now a pattern of key Biden confidants seeking to shield themselves from criminal liability for this potential conspiracy,' Comer wrote. 'Annie Tomasini, former Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations, pleaded the Fifth when asked if Joe Biden, a member of his family, or anyone at the White House instructed her to lie regarding his health at any time.' She also pleaded the fifth when asked about classified documents being found in Biden's garage, if the former president instructed anyone to destroy or conceal classified documents at the Democrat's home or if she's conspired with anyone to hide information on the Biden family's business affairs, Comer shared. The Kentucky Republican said this is a 'historical scandal.'
Telegraph
6 hours ago
- Telegraph
Suddenly, Donald Trump is in trouble
The second Trump term was always going to get a little bumpy. You'd certainly need nerves of steel to be in the administration this week. Once the president seemed immune to the pressures of the 'Panicans'. He humiliated those wailing about an Iranian nuclear strike on Boston by ending the Iran-Israel war in 12 days with zero American casualties. When Elon Musk started up another bout of late night posting against the One Big Beautiful Bill, Trump told him to take a hike. This is a guy who built his reputation in business and politics on bouncing back from apparent disaster. He's made of sterner stuff than you or I. But there appear to be limits, even for him. An explosive Wall Street Journal article published last night, revealing a 'bawdy' letter purportedly from Trump to Jeffrey Epstein (the president denies the letter in question is from him), has sent shock waves through Maga-world. Tensions have been building since the department of justice and the FBI announced that they would not release any more files related to Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex trafficker. But the president's initial instinct – to rage against supporters who had fallen 'hook, line, and sinker' for conspiracy theories – could not hold. He has now asked Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to 'produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval'. Clearly, the administration thinks it cannot treat the Epstein conspiracy theorists as just another group of soon-to-be-embarrassed Panicans. The base doesn't care if America drops a couple of bombs on the Ayatollah or calls Musk a weirdo. But Trump and senior figures in his administration helped spread the idea that there was more to the Epstein scandal than we were being told. The dynamics of the online media ecosystem now turning against the president are also worth examining, as they portend poorly to the future of the American Right. For all the progressive teasing about the Fox-News-on-crack aesthetics of Maga, Trump's movement has always been one that is supremely comfortable with the online sphere. His first campaign was defined by 'meme magic', arcane internet imageboards and Pepe the Frog. The same people ironically (and then sincerely) amplifying Trump didn't fit easily into the mental image of the left-behind white Americans that supposedly made up the Republican candidate's base: they were young, media-savvy, and deeply paranoid. Perhaps it was inevitable that the man who popularised Birtherism would attract the guys who shouted about Pizzagate – the lurid conspiracy theory that falsely claimed a paedophile ring was being run out of a Washington DC pizza restaurant. A new generation of influencers rose from the imageboards and chatrooms and came out into the open. They were edgier than Joe Rogan, but like him had interests outside of the purely political. You can see the evolution of their thinking clearly: Maga wasn't just the project of a single extraordinary man, but a brand, a broad church where you could shill supplements and drone into your podcast mic – as long as you stuck by your president. Then again, the 47th president wasn't paying you. That was your audience, and they craved intrigue even after the election campaign was over. A belief that these influencers brought the president to power in the first place (just don't ask them what they said about Ron DeSantis back in 2022) made them think they could make demands. Trump needed them, they thought, not the other way around. If you want a glimpse at what Maga without the president looks like, take a look at Laura Loomer. She's been at the centre of internet bloodsports for more than a decade now, and created a space for herself within Maga by acting as a regime pitbull. She's spent the last few days making veiled threats about the damage this Epstein crisis could cause Trump. Loomer is not representative of the base, but she is representative of an online influencer class that is one of the administration's main vectors for getting out news. If they turn Panican, ignoring them isn't an option: they need to be smacked down, and fast. The president and his allies played with fire in letting the conspiracy-obsessives grow their power for so long. The stakes are high: without Trump, the political project of Maga dies. In its place will be a dangerous fantasy woven by those who make a living frightening people into impotence.
