Federal Judge Orders Trump Admin to Reinstate Tens of Thousands of Federal Workers After ‘Sham’ Mass Firings
U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to reinstate tens of thousands of probationary federal employees on Thursday, according to Politico’s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney.
In his ruling, Alsup referred to the mass firings as “unlawful” and a “sham.”
Gerstein and Cheney describe Alsup’s order as “one of the most far-reaching rejections of the Trump administration’s effort to slash the bureaucracy and is almost certain to be appealed.”
“It is sad, a sad day, when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” mused Alsup from the bench before issuing the order.
He also laid into the Department of Justice, telling an attorney representing it that “You will not bring the people in here to be cross-examined. You’re afraid to do so because you know cross examination would reveal the truth.”
“I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth. … I’m tired of seeing you stonewall on trying to get at the truth,” he added.
CNN’s Paula Reid broke down the order on Thursday afternoon:
This happened just moments ago. And the judge, a Clinton appointee, said he was making this ruling because he believes the Office of Personnel Management unlawfully directed the agencies earlier this year to lay off probationary employees. As you may remember, this hearing was supposed to feature testimony from the director of the Office of Personnel Management. He would have faced probably pretty tough questions from lawyers representing unions, but the Justice Department decided not to make him available, and also withdrew a declaration that he made last week about these firings.
And let me tell you, Dana [Bash], we’ve been listening to this hearing in San Francisco. The judge was not pleased. He said, quote, “You were afraid to have this person testify because, you know, cross-examination will reveal the truth. I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth.” The judge went on to say, you’re not helping me get at the truth. You’re giving me press releases, sham documents — referring to documents submitted by the Justice Department to the courts. Now going forward, the judge has ordered that another senior adviser at the Office of Personnel Management be deposed. So these lawyers are going to have the opportunity to question that senior adviser. And the judge said he want someone from this agency to go under oath and to finally tell the truth about exactly what happened with these firings. Now, the judge also anticipated that this ruling today will likely be appealed. He said, if you want to do that quote, “God bless you.” But he says that he wants to get to the bottom of exactly what happened with these firings. So in the next two weeks, we expect the senior leader at OPM could be deposed, depending on what happens with the appeal.
Watch above via CNN.
