In CHAPIN, S.C., the transition in federal government agencies is a common occurrence with a new administration taking office in Washington. However, President Donald Trump has initiated significant changes at the start of his second term, which involve actions like terminating long-term agency staff, pausing the distribution of large amounts of federal grant money, and discontinuing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that could lead to numerous job cuts.
Reports indicate that around 240 employees have either been dismissed, reassigned, or are expected to be laid off. The impact of other decisions or the temporary halt on grant funds could impact thousands of employees.
Here’s a comprehensive look at Trump’s actions so far:
Inspectors general
Each major federal agency is equipped with its inspector general whose role is to conduct impartial audits, prevent fraudulent activities, and enhance operational 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 President Barack 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.
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 President Joe 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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