Trump administration trying to un-fire nuclear safety workers
The US nuclear safety watchdog, which sacked hundreds of workers under orders from Donald Trump’s administration, is now trying to contact employees to rehire them.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has been attempting to notify some employees who had been let go that they are now due to be reinstated.
But according to Sky News’ US partner NBC News, officials are struggling to find them because they do not have their new contact information.
In an email sent to employees at the NNSA on Friday, officials wrote: “The termination letters for some NNSA probationary employees are being rescinded, but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel.”
The individuals had been fired on Thursday and lost access to their federal government email accounts.
Some 325 essential nuclear security workers at the NNSA, which manages the US nuclear weapons stockpile, were let go, according to the Reuters news agency.
The hulls of nuclear submarines at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state. Pic: San Francisco Chronicle/AP
The NNSA is part of the Department of Energy (DOE) which has laid off between 1,200 to 2,000 people among a staff of around 14,000.
The termination notices included the subject line: “Notification of Termination During Probationary/Trial Period.”
The letter said: “DOE finds that your further employment would not be in the public interest. For this reason, you are being removed from your position with DOE and the federal civil service effective today.”
The department laid off workers’ access to government-issued laptops and phones just after midnight Eastern Time (5am UK time) on Friday.
That left some unable to receive the notifications and they did not know they had been fired.
Read more from Sky News:
Ukraine: Emergency summit expected
Tupac trial: Alternative cause of death
Jockey Michael O’Sullivan dies aged 24
Mass firings were carried out on Thursday and Friday across several federal departments, affecting thousands of probationary workers who had been on the job for less than two years.
The president has acted with unprecedented speed to cut large portions of the government, laying off staff and ending contracts.
But that speed has resulted in complications, including firing people agencies actually want to keep.
👉 Follow Trump 100 on your podcast app 👈
“It’s been chaotic for the staff,” one source at NNSA told Reuters. “We just want to focus on national security stuff and this has distracted us from our work.”
In Washington state, at least a dozen workers at the Hanford nuclear site – a 1940s site for plutonium and uranium production for atomic bombs – were laid off, according to local Democratic Senator Patty Murray.
She said some were safety engineers who clean up and monitor the site.
“These reckless firings will slow down critical cleanup work and make workers less safe – trying to run Hanford with a skeleton crew is a recipe for disaster that could have irreversible impacts,” she added.
The losses at the NNSA occur at a time when nuclear power plants have been at risk in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Dozens of supporters were outside court as the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare made his first appearance.
Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the 4 December killing of Brian Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
The 26-year-old is accused of ambushing and shooting the executive as he walked to an investor conference.
Luigi Mangione supporters stand outside the Supreme Court. Pic: AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah
Dozens of people who showed up in court to support the suspect including former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning who was jailed for stealing classified diplomatic cables.
Dozens more queued in the hallway.
Mangione is also facing federal charges that could carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The judge set a deadline of 9 April to submit pre-trial motions.
Luigi Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson. Pic: Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP
In addition to the New York cases, Mr Mangione also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.
Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document that expressed “ill will” towards corporate America.
He is being held in a Brooklyn jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including music mogul and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.
The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.
A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have not “done anything” to end the Ukraine war, US President Donald Trump has said.
He called the French president a “friend of mine” and the UK leader a “nice guy” but said Russia had only agreed to negotiate “because of me”.
Mr Trump made the comments days before both leaders visit the White House for a meeting in which they must try to press Ukraine‘s case while keeping the US leader onside.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron in Paris: Pic: Number 10/Flickr
The president also continued his criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he had “no cards” to play.
“I’ve been watching for years, and I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards. And you get sick of it. You just get sick of it. And I’ve had it,” he told a Fox radio show.
The comments come after he recently called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator without elections” – apparently in response to Mr Zelenskyy saying his US counterpart was living in a “disinformation space” after Mr Trump claimed Ukraine had started the war.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
US and Russia hold talks in Saudi Arabia
Ukraine was also excluded from talks between the top US and Russian diplomats in Riyadh earlier this week.
They were intended to set the stage for future negotiations on ending the war, which started when Russia launched a full-scale invasion three years ago.
Speaking on Friday evening, Mr Trump denied speculation he could visit Moscow for talks on 9 May – the day Russia celebrates its victory over the Nazis.
President Trump speaks in the Oval Office on Friday. Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also told reporters the Russian and Ukrainian leaders needed to “work together” to end the war.
However, the US has already dealt a huge blow to Kyiv’s position in any future talks.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that a return to pre-war borders was “unrealistic” and ruled out NATO membership as way to guarantee Kyiv’s security.
Read more:
Sombre Starmer and Europe confront emerging new world order
Trump’s direction of travel doesn’t look good for Ukraine
President Zelenskyy has insisted he will not accept any deal that his country is not involved in.
Ukraine’s leader held talks with US envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Thursday, describing it later as a “good discussion”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Has Musk taken a chainsaw to US politics?
Mr Kellogg struck a markedly different tone to President Trump when he called Mr Zelenskyy the “courageous leader of a nation at war”.
However, there are concerns over how much influence Mr Kellogg has, with a Ukrainian source saying there was a sense he had been sidelined.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports11 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway