A federal judge on Thursday ruled the Trump administration must “immediately [reinstate]” tens of thousands of probationary federal employees “unlawfully [terminated]” by the government, ABC News Katherine Faulders reports.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup delivered what Faulders described as a “scathing rebuke of the Trump administration" and slammed the Department of Justice (DOJ) over its failure to present Charles Ezell, the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), for cross-examination.
As Faulders reports, the judge accused the Trump administration of using “lies and gimmicks to unlawfully terminate" the government employees.
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"The government, I believe, has tried to frustrate the judge's ability to get at the truth of what happened here, and then set forth sham declarations," Alsup said. "That's not the way it works in the U.S. District Court.”
“I’m tired of seeing you stonewall on trying to get at the truth,” Aslup added, according to Politico reporters Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney.
Aslup said by firing probationary employees under the guise of poor performance, the administration “attempted to circumvent federal laws on reducing the workforce,” Politico reports.
"The reason that OPM wanted to put this 'based on performance' was, at least in my judgment, a gimmick to avoid their Reduction in Force Act,” Alsup said.
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As ABC News reports, Alsup “slammed” the DOJ attorney representing the government “for refusing to make” OPM’s Ezell “available for cross-examination and for withdrawing his sworn declaration.”
"You withdrew his declaration rather than do that,” Alsup said. “Come on, that's a sham. It upsets me. I want you to know that I've been practicing or serving in this court for over 50 years. And I know how that we get at the truth, and you're not helping me get to add to the truth. You're giving me press releases — sham documents.”
Alsup said the government is refusing to make witnesses like Ezell available for cross-examination because it “would reveal the truth.
“You're afraid to do so, because, you know, cross-examination would reveal the truth,” Alsup said. “This is the U.S. District Court. I tend to doubt that you're telling me the truth.”
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“I just want to say it is 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,” Alsup remarked. “That should not have been done in our country. It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements.”
The judge also appeared to head off likely criticism from President Donald Trump, telling the courtroom his words “should not be taken as some kind of wild and crazy judge in San Francisco has said that the administration cannot engage in a reduction-in-force.”
Instead, Alsup said the Trump administration must follow established federal law to terminate employees.
Watch the video below or at this link.
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