When the Trump administration tried to make it harder, I stepped in to make sure New Yorkers could still roll up their sleeves at their local pharmacy.
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National News
Kristi Noem prays to God for ‘hedge of protection’ around ICE at official DHS meeting
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem prayed for a "hedge of protection" around federal agents while meeting at an official Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
According to MAGA influencer Benny Johnson, Noem began a meeting at the Portland ICE office with a prayer to Jesus Christ.
In her prayer, Noem asked God to give her agency "wisdom and discernment to make the best decisions not just for the people that are here enforcing the law but also for the citizens of this country."
"And Lord, I just ask you to continue to put a hedge of protection around these officers, keep them safe, Lord, but that also that you continue to bless each and every one of them and their families," she continued. "And Lord, that you would protect the freedoms that we all enjoy that we're given to us by you."
"We love you, we praise you," she concluded. "Amen."
According to Johnson, the prayer was the "first thing" Noem did upon arriving at the office.
"We are witnessing incredible things," he wrote on X.
National News
FEMA pressures staff to rat out colleagues who have criticized Trump anonymously: report
A number of Federal Emergency Management Agency staff that openly criticized President Donald Trump are under intense investigation from FEMA leadership, and under threats of termination should they refuse to reveal the names of their colleagues who criticized Trump anonymously, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Nearly 200 FEMA employees signed onto a letter in August pushing back against the Trump administration’s cuts to FEMA, warning that the cuts could jeopardize the agency’s ability to adequately respond to disasters.
More than a dozen FEMA employees – all of whom signed onto the letter – were soon placed on leave. Now, remaining staff that had signed onto the letter using their name are being investigated by agency leadership, being threatened to reveal the names of their colleagues who signed the letter anonymously, according to insiders who spoke with Bloomberg and documents reviewed by the outlet.
“The interviews with FEMA workers have been carried out by the agency's division that investigates employee misconduct, and those interviewed have been told they risk being fired for failure to cooperate,” Bloomberg writes in its report. “The employees have been instructed not to bring counsel, according to people familiar with the process.”
The revelation that FEMA staff under investigation were being instructed not to bring legal counsel was revealed, in part, by Colette Delawalla, the founder of the nonprofit organization Stand Up for Science, the same organization that helped FEMA staff publish its letter of dissent.
“They are not really given an option not to comply,” Delawalla told Bloomberg. “They don’t have guidance while they’re in there.”
Trump has previously said he wanted to phase out FEMA and “bring it down to the state level,” with the agency struggling to respond to emergencies such as the deadly Texas flood in July following new Trump administration policies that led to funding lapses for the agency.
A previous batch of FEMA employees – 140 of them – were placed on leave back in July for signing onto a different letter of dissent, which itself followed a number of FEMA employees being forcibly reassigned to work for Immigrations Customs and Enforcement amid Trump’s mass deportation push.
Critics have characterized the FEMA purges as a blatant violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act, which provides clear protections for government employees from retaliation for disclosing information that is a “specific danger to public health or safety.”