Latest news with #AbbeLowell
CBS News
09-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Federal workers spoke to reporters after DOGE fired them. Now they face investigation.
At least half a dozen USAID employees who spoke to reporters after they thought they had been fired by the Trump administration have now received notices from the foreign aid agency's internal human resources office that they are facing investigation for participating in interviews. The workers, whose formal dismissal date was delayed after leaders encountered bureaucratic snags, received an email in recent days carrying the subject line, "Administrative inquiry." The email accused them of having "engaged with the press/media without authorization" and threatened "disciplinary action" including "removal from the U.S. Agency for International Development." The emails were sent by Employment Labor Relations, which is part of the USAID's internal HR structure, and manages most disciplinary and performance complaints. "It's total intimidation," said Randy Chester, the vice president of the American Foreign Service Association, which is the union that represents USAID employees. He said employees started receiving notices on Monday. The union shared the email exclusively with CBS. "Federal employees do not surrender their constitutional rights when they take public service jobs," said Abbe Lowell, a veteran Washington, D.C., attorney who launched his own firm last week to protect public officials from retaliation. Lowell is known for representing high-profile political figures including Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Hunter Biden. "This so-called 'inquiry' does not appear to be about enforcing any rules so much as it's trying to silence criticism," he said. USAID — the agency that oversaw distribution of foreign aid —was among the first to face drastic personnel cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, a force reduction effort overseen by Elon Musk. On Feb. 2, Musk posted the following on X: "USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die." Operating largely in secret, workers for DOGE were inserted into various federal agencies and proceeded to enact large-scale force reductions. In February, USAID employees received notices that they would soon lose their jobs. An agency letter dated Feb. 4 said "all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally." A few days later, workers were informed that the agency headquarters were closed until further notice. On Feb. 18, President Trump gave a speech saying, "we've effectively eliminated the U.S. Agency for International Development." At the end of the month, employees were given 15 minutes to pack up their belongings, in what many considered the end of their careers at USAID. But shuttering the agency was more difficult than anticipated, and many saw their dismissal date slide as their bosses worked to terminate them. In March, USAID leadership issued a memo saying the vast majority of the agency's employees would formally lose their jobs on either July 1 or Sept. 2. Employees have continued to be on USAID payroll since February. Later that month, the State Department notified Congress that it would "realign select USAID functions to the Department" by July 1. This week, employees who spoke out publicly about their dismissal between late February and early March began receiving email communication that suggested interviews done during this period were improper. The email, reviewed by CBS News, asked the employees to submit a statement and answer a series of questions by May 13. According to the email, "failure to comply with these instructions and to provide a statement as requested would constitute misconduct," and their written statement will be "used to determine whether misconduct occurred and what action, if any, is necessary to correct that behavior." Federal workers, including USAID employees, are contractually prohibited from doing interviews with the press without agency permission. The USAID employees have not been asked to sign separation agreements that prevent them from speaking with members of the press, according to Chester. In this case many who had received notices about employee termination dates believed they had already lost their jobs, Chester said. Others were willing to take the risk. He believes these notices promote a "chilling effect" for those who have stories to share with the press or have joined lawsuits against the government. "It's an effort to stifle anyone else from talking to the press," he said in an interview with CBS News. "These notices smack of an administration desperate to hide their mistakes." Investigations into possible employee misconduct typically take months to resolve and involve multiple appeals. In most circumstances, if an employee is found to have committed misconduct, they are offered a limited suspension from work without pay. "This is a complete waste of time and government resources," Chester said. "It's going to cost them money to conduct these investigations, and the lawyers investigating won't even have jobs by the time it's done." A State Department spokesperson responded to CBS' inquiry saying, "as a general matter, we do not comment on internal personnel matters."
Fox News
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Department of Justice opens criminal investigation into NY AG Letitia James
The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James, Fox News has learned. A source familiar with the matter confirmed that a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia sent out subpoenas related to accusations that James misrepresented a single-family home in Virginia as her primary residence to obtain more favorable loan terms. News of the federal probe follows a criminal referral from the Trump administration's Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, who requested the DOJ investigate James over that matter and another incident in which she allegedly misrepresented the number of livable units in a multifamily Brooklyn house to once again obtain better loan terms. "These baseless and long-discredited allegations, put to rest by my April 24 letter to the Department of Justice, are suddenly back in the news just days after President Trump publicly attacked Attorney General James," James' attorney, Abbe Lowell, said Thursday. "This appears to be the political retribution President Trump threatened to exact that AG Bondi assured the Senate would not occur on her watch. If prosecutors are genuinely interested in the truth, we are prepared to meet false claims with facts." After Pulte's criminal referral was sent to the Justice Department, specifically U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Lowell followed up with his own letter to Bondi and the Justice Department, accusing the president of seeking "political retribution." James has been part of a group of Democratic attorneys general who have sued to halt many of Trump's orders during his first few months in the Oval Office. Additionally, James was the catalyst behind Trump becoming the first U.S. president sentenced as a felon. She was the lead prosecutor in a case she brought against Trump and the Trump Organization that alleged Trump and his company falsified business records to obtain more favorable loan terms. Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and was ordered to pay $350 million in penalties and is appealing the conviction. "The stunning hypocrisy of President Trump's complaint that the Justice Department had been 'politicized' and 'weaponized' against him is laid bare as he and others in his administration are now asking you to undertake the very same practice," Lowell wrote in his letter to Bondi. Lowell, in his letter, pointed to instances when Trump has called for revenge and instances when the president has personally attacked James. Lowell also responded to the allegations, including the claim James listed a home in Virginia as her primary residence while serving as a state official in New York. According to Lowell, James had no intention of using the property as a primary residence, and her indication of this in a power-of-attorney letter was a mistake. Lowell pointed out there were other documents in which James indicated to her lender that the Virginia home would not be her primary residence. James is also accused of fraud for allegedly inflating the number of livable units in a multifamily Brooklyn home to receive better interest rates. Lowell accuses Pulte of disregarding updated documentation listing the residence as a four-unit multifamily residence and instead pointing to a certificate of occupancy from 2001.
CBS News
02-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
High-profile attorney Abbe Lowell launches new firm to push back on Trump's attacks on legal system
Washington — Abbe Lowell, a criminal defense attorney who has represented a number of high-profile political clients, is launching a new law firm to push back on President Trump's crusade against several major practices. Lowell & Associates has hired multiple attorneys who left firms that cut deals with the Trump administration as the president sought to punish prominent practices to settle his long-held grievances against his political opponents. Mr. Trump has issued executive orders targeting major law firms that represented his political opponents, were involved in legal challenges against him or hired attorneys connected to the investigations into him. Lowell's previous clients include Mr. Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, former President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, and former Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey. New York Attorney General Letitia James, former Trump administration official Miles Taylor and whistleblower lawyer Mark Zaid are among the firm's first clients. In an announcement, the firm said it represents "individuals, including current and former state and federal officials who have been unlawfully and inappropriately targeted by this Administration," as well as "entities and organizations involved in litigation over the improper revocation of grant funding by the Department of Government Efficiency and the federal government." "We are not here to make statements, we are here to litigate, win, and help reinforce the legal guardrails that hold our democracy together," said Brenna Trout Frey, who resigned from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, after the law practice committed to providing $100 million in pro bono work for Mr. Trump's interests. Several firms — Willkie Farr & Gallagher; Paul, Weiss and Milbank — also pledged millions of dollars in free legal work for the administration in response to the executive orders, while others — Jenner & Block, WilmerHale and Perkins Coie — are fighting them in court. Mr. Trump's executive orders require government contractors to disclose any business they have with the legal practices. They direct agencies to cancel contracts with the orders' targets and also reassess contracts with the firms or companies that do business with them to ensure funding decisions align "with the interests of the citizens of the United States" and the Trump administration's priorities.
