The Trump administration received bipartisan criticism on Sunday for its deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a Salvadorian citizen who lived in Maryland and was deported to a prison in El Salvador due to an “administrative error.”

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., called the deportation a “screw up” though he stopped short of pushing for Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. — who recently visited Abergo Garcia in El Salvador — said the case marks a “constitutional crisis.” The Maryland senator also called for a pressure campaign on El Salvador’s government to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

The Trump administration has refused to bring back Abrego Garcia despite a Supreme Court order to “facilitate” his return. The Salvadoran citizen entered the country illegally; an immigration judge said he should not be deported to El Salvador because Abrego Garcia was able to prove he was likely to suffer persecution in his home country.

The White House has said it can’t force the Salvadoran government to release one of its citizens, while El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele called the idea of Abrego Garcia’s release “preposterous.”

On Thursday, a federal court denied the Trump administration’s appeal on the court’s return-order.

‘Put up or shut up in court’

Sen. Van Hollen defended his recent trip to El Salvador Sunday after President Trump criticized his meeting with Abrego Garcia.

On Friday, Trump posed with a photo of a man’s hand with tattooed knuckles.

“This is the hand of the man that the Democrats feel should be brought back to the United States,” Trump wrote on X the day Van Hollen returned from his trip. “They said he is not a member of MS-13, even though he’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles.”

Van Hollen said he didn’t see the markings on Abrego Garcia’s hand and that the president’s criticism and posts are beside the point.

“I didn’t see a tattoo, but here’s the main point: Donald Trump and his administration need to put up or shut up in court,” Van Hollen said on NPR’s Weekend Edition. “They keep putting stuff out on social media.”

Last week, the Trump administration posted previously unshared documents on X regarding a 2021 protective order against Abrego Garcia and a 2022 traffic stop.

But Van Hollen said these documents should be tested in court and the posts on social media are meant to “change the subject” away from the administration’s mistake.

When asked whether his advocacy for Abrego Garcia is a political risk and might turn off voters — who largely support President Trump’s deportation efforts — Van Hollen said he isn’t worried.

“I think voters support the idea of making sure that we respect constitutional rights because if we deny them for one person, they could be next,” Van Hollen said. “I think conservatives and libertarians, when they think about it, they’ll recognize how dangerous it is to deprive someone of their personal liberty without due process.”

Abrego Garcia deportation ‘was a screw up’

Sen. Kennedy, a Republican, called the Trump administration’s deportation of Abrego Garcia a “screw up,” but also criticized Van Hollen’s words as “rage bait.”

“The administration won’t admit it,” Kennedy said on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press with Kristen Welker’. “But this was a screw-up. Mr. Garcia was not supposed to be sent to El Salvador. He was sent to El Salvador.”

The Louisiana lawmaker also said Abrego Garcia should have received a hearing before his deportation to El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison, CECOT.

But, Kennedy threw cold water on the idea that Abrego Garcia’s case marks what Van Hollen called a “constitutional crisis.”

“The Democrats say, ‘Look, you know, we told you Trump is a threat to democracy. This is going to happen every other Thursday afternoon,'” Kennedy said mocking his liberal colleagues. “But I don’t see any pattern here. I mean, you know, some day pigs may fly. But I doubt it.”

Kennedy argued that Abrego Garcia has received due process — citing previous, though non-specific court hearings — and that the Trump administration hasn’t defied a court order. But the Louisiana senator said he’ll speak up if Trump skirts an order from the judiciary branch.

“I don’t believe that President Trump will defy a federal judge’s order,” Kennedy said. “If he does, I’ll call him out on it.”

Separately, Kennedy said he disapproved of Trump’s idea of sending American criminals to El Salvador. He called the idea not “appropriate or moral” — citing the eighth amendment which protects U.S. citizens from cruel and unusual punishments.

Protesters turned out to demonstrate against the Trump administration in cities across the U.S. on Saturday, with organizers hoping to seize on what they say is growing resistance to anti-democratic policies.

Hundreds of protests, rallies and other actions against the Trump administration are taking place in cities across the U.S. this weekend.

In Washington, D.C., hundreds of protesters gathered in Lafayette Square outside the White House on Saturday morning to voice their opposition to the Trump administration. Demonstrators cited a range of concerns, including the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the administration’s moves to cut funding for research and higher education.

Heather Sarandos (C) from Baltimore holds up a sign while shouting during the anti-Trump protest in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

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Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Michelle Willis, a paraeducator from New Bedford, Mass., drove to D.C. on Friday with her two children.

“ We have to speak out, we have to stand up and you have to keep people energized,” she said.

Willis, who is concerned about funding cuts to education and mass deportations, said she has been to half a dozen protests since Trump took office. She plans to keep showing up.

People take part in a protest outside of New York Public Library.

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Adam Gray/Getty Images

“When I go home, there’s another rally, I think next weekend that I’ll be at,” Willis said.

In New York City, protesters railed against the deportations of immigrants as they marched from the New York Public Library toward Central Park past Trump Tower.

Marshall Green, a 61-year-old who joined the Manhattan protest, told The Associated Press that he was most concerned that Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a rarely used wartime law, by claiming the U.S. is at war with Venezuelan gangs.

A yellow cab driver holds a sign as people march during a rally titled “Protect Migrants, Protect the Planet,” in New York City.

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Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

“Congress should be stepping up and saying, ‘No, we are not at war. You cannot use that,’ ” said Green, a resident of Morristown, N.J. “You cannot deport people without due process, and everyone in this country has the right to due process no matter what.”

The Supreme Court on Saturday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting immigrants under the act.

Protesters hold signs during a parade honoring the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution on Saturday in Concord, Mass.

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Michael Casey/AP

At a rally Lexington, Ky., protesters calling for “no kings” demonstrated across the street from the federal courthouse.

Sioux Finney, a retired social studies teacher, held up a sign that said “History cannot be whitewashed. America includes all of us.”

“I want to say that we can’t erase history,” Finney said. “We have to stand up for those who are not being treated with justice.”

Some protesters hoped their participation would grab the attention of Democratic leaders.

Demonstrators gather during the “day of action” protest in downtown Chicago.

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Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images

In Milwaukee, Gerald Leahy joined about 50 people protesting on a highway overpass in downtown. He said he has “lost faith” in the Democratic Party. “Two times they’ve lost to this man. That is pathetic,” the 60-year-old said. “I think there needs to be a serious reboot of the party.”

In front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, Kim Jordan, 45, expressed disappointment with what she said was the Democratic Party’s lack of planning to challenge Project 2025’s objectives. She is a Democrat and said it’s difficult to talk to people about voting for Democrats because many people “feel that the party is not listening to them.”

The Philadelphia “no kings” rally, which drew hundreds of protesters, made references to the city’s reputation as the birthplace of American democracy and the fact that Saturday marks 250 years since the start of the American Revolutionary War.

Demonstrators hold signs as reenactors portraying colonial militia and British redcoat soldiers take part in the Battle Road event at Minute Man National Historical Park in Lincoln, Mass.

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Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

At a rally in downtown Cincinnati, demonstrators carried signs protesting the administration’s actions on immigration, education, and its cuts to federal departments such as the Social Security Administration.

Robin Wallace was among the protesters on the march toward a federal building affected by the Trump administration’s budget cuts. She said she had never protested until this year.

“Rather than staying home and feeling hopeless, the only thing I could do was try and get with other people who feel like I do right now,” she said.

Demonstrators gather in Driggs, Idaho, to protest against President Trump and his administration.

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Natalie Behring/Getty Images

But she isn’t sure whether marches like this will have an effect. “We’ve got everything stacked against us,” she said.

A grassroots-led effort

Many of the Saturday protests were part of a “day of action” organized by the 50501 Movement, which brands itself as a decentralized network. The name stands for 50 protests in 50 states and one movement — referring to the group’s first nationwide protest at state capitols.

More than 800 local protests, teach-ins, and mutual aid efforts were planned for Saturday in response to what organizers say are “anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration.”

Demonstrators march in Washington, D.C., during nationwide protests against the Trump administration.

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Pierre Kattar/NPR

The White House did not respond to NPR’s request for comment.

The 50501 Movement, which has orchestrated protests since early February, is one of several anti-Trump movements. The “Tesla Takedown” campaign is holding more than 100 protests this weekend, according to organizers. That group is protesting Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s influential role in the Trump administration.

Hunter Dunn, the national press coordinator for the 50501 Movement, says that Tesla Takedown rallies and other similar efforts are part of the same decentralized movement. The sprawling effort encompasses any protest guided by four tenets, according to Dunn.

“We’re pro-democracy, we’re in favor of preserving the Constitution, we’re against executive overreach, and we’re non-violent,” he said.

While the “Hands Off!” rallies on April 5 were billed as a day of protests, Saturday broadened the resistance effort to include community-focused events.

A protester holds a sign saying “Hands off” in New York City. Organizers of the nationwide protests said the demonstrations were to denounce the “hostile government takeover” by the Trump administration.

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Adam Gray/Getty Images

“It’s all about actions that support your community against the Trump administration — strengthening your community so that they can weather these assaults on democracy,” Dunn said.

In Southern California, for example, food drives were planned to support people who continue to struggle in the wake of the January wildfires as well as those who may be affected by the rising price of goods amid President Trump’s tariffs.

“Resistance is about more than just protesting,” Dunn said. “It’s about strengthening your community so that they can weather these assaults on democracy, and so that they can get ready to make a better future for everyone.”

The 50501 campaign says it has quickly built momentum since its first call to action. For its nationwide protest on Feb. 5, the organization estimates there were about 80 protests in 88 cities.

Demonstrators rally near the White House during nationwide protests against the Trump administration.

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Richard Pierrin/AFP via Getty Images

Likewise, as the Tesla Takedown protests enter their 11th week, organizers say momentum hasn’t slowed and they have consistently seen about 150 actions globally each week.

WEKU’s John McGary contributed to this story from Lexington, Ky. WVXU’s Bill Rinehart reported from Cincinnati. Nick Rommel of Wisconsin Public Radio reported from Milwaukee. WHYY reporter Emily Neil contributed from Philadelphia.

The Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center, in west-central Texas, under the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used 18th-century wartime law that allows for accelerated removal of foreigners deemed a threat by authorities.

“The government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court,” the court said in a brief early Saturday note. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.

The American Civil Liberties Union late Friday had warned that immigration authorities were moving to quickly restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act despite the previous Supreme Court’s restrictions on how it can use the act. Late Thursday a group of Venezuelans detained at the Bluebonnet Detention Center was advised that they would be immediately deported. ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt told NPR that migrants at the Anson, Texas, facility were being loaded onto buses for removal late Friday.

This came despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found the Trump administration could continue deporting under the act — only if detainees are given due process to challenge their removal. The government says 137 migrants accused of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, including a group of men sent to a prison in El Salvador, have already been deported under the Alien Enemies Act.

NPR was unable to independently confirm the number of people who may be deported from the Bluebonnet Detention facility. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security declined to provide details or answer additional questions about the case.

“We are not going to reveal the details of counter terrorism operations, and we are complying with the Supreme Court’s ruling,” said Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin.

ACLU asked Supreme Court and federal judges for emergency injunction

The ACLU late Friday had asked the Supreme Court for an emergency injunction and stay of removal. The group asked that migrants being subjected to the Alien Enemies Act be given at least 30 days advance notice.

“The notice the government is providing does not remotely comply with the Supreme Court’s order,” the ACLU argued in the request for an injunction. “At a minimum, the notice must be translated into a language that individuals can understand. Most importantly, there must be sufficient time for individuals to seek review. As during World War II, that notice must be at least 30 days in advance of any attempted removal.”

The group also unsuccessfully asked a federal judge to halt any new deportations. At an emergency hearing Friday evening federal Judge James Boasberg seemed to agree the forms migrants were asked to sign regarding the Act had no information regarding their right to contest and were inadequate.

“It doesn’t say you have the right to contest, you have the right to challenge anything. It’s just telling you here’s the notice, you’re getting removed,” Boasberg told Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign. “That certainly seems problematic to me.”

The Justice Department argued that the notice complies with the previous Supreme Court’s guidance on the issue.

Federal judges in several districts have blocked the deportation of people using the Alien Enemies Act. The ACLU sued the administration again this week, in order to block deportations at several additional Texas detention centers, including Bluebonnet, a facility in west-central Texas about halfway between Lubbock and Fort Worth.

The ACLU alleges that in recent days, many Venezuelan migrants were specifically brought to Bluebonnet for that reason. The government denies this.

Boasberg earlier this week found probable cause that the Trump administration committed criminal contempt by disobeying his ruling, only to see the Supreme Court rule that only judges where migrants are being held have jurisdiction to halt their removal.

Stella M. Chávez from The Texas Newsroom and NPR’s Ximena Bustillo contributed reporting to this story.

The White House is for the first time soliciting corporate sponsors for the annual Easter Egg Roll event to be held Monday on the South Lawn. This comes as billionaire tech executives have faced growing criticism for cozying up to the Trump administration.

“In addition to the classic Egg Roll and Egg Hunt—both featuring real, small- and medium-sized eggs donated by American egg farmers—guests will enjoy a wide array of entertaining activities thanks to the White House Historical Association and its partnerships,” the White House said in a statement.

Listed among the sponsors were companies including YouTube, Amazon, and Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta.

Tech company executives, including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerburg of Meta and Google CEO Sundar Pichai have been criticized for their firms’ donations to Trumps inauguration fund and for taking meetings with Trump and his allies.

Most notable among the tech billionaires to rub elbows with Trump is Tesla boss Elon Musk, who has taken on unprecedented power within the White House, despite concerns that his involvement in federal affairs marked an improper, if illegal, shift in government protocol.

CNN first reported earlier this month that the White House had begun courting sponsors for the typically apolitical family gathering, at between $75,000 to $200,000. The White House says the money raised will go to the White House Historical Association, a nonprofit.

NPR reached out to these companies, but they did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The annual event dates back to the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes, according to the White House, and save for war and food shortages, have been a mainstay of Pennsylvania Avenue since 1878.

The event, which the White House said will use eggs “donated by American egg farmers,” also comes as egg prices in the United States have reached record highs due to an outbreak of avian flu that has forced farmers to kill off millions of egg-laying hens.

The Trump administration is considering eliminating funding for the Head Start program, which is dedicated to free early child care services — a move that one advocate says would be “catastrophic.”

“This proposal does not reflect fiscal responsibility — it reflects a disinvestment in our future,” Yasmina Vinci, the executive director of the National Head Start Association (NHSA), said in a statement Thursday. “Eliminating funding for Head Start would be catastrophic. It would be a direct attack on our nation’s most at-risk children, their well-being, and their families.”

USA Today cited an official familiar with the plan and The Washington Post cited a document from the administration that outlines a rough budget for the Department of Health and Human Services over the next fiscal year. In it, Head Start’s funding goes to zero. While NPR has obtained a copy of the document, it has not yet been able to verify its authenticity.

NPR has reached out to the White House for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

Head Start is an early learning program founded in 1965 that sits under the umbrella of the Department of Human and Health Services. The organization provides free services for parents, and children up to the age of 5, including health screenings, meals and snacks and a financial literacy curriculum.

In fiscal year 2022, Head Start received funds to serve more than 800,000 families.

Kayla Householder has worked at Head Start in West Virginia for the past 12 years. She makes house visits each week to a dozen families, who have children ranging from newborns to 3-year-olds.

“Many of the families that I work with are devastated, and they’re asking questions,” she said. “They’re concerned of what this is gonna mean for the services that they’re receiving currently.”

Householder said she began bracing herself for the ax to come down on the organization in January, after the election.

“I was very nervous and already had some suspicion that this may come up, so I was definitely still shocked, frightened, nervous,” she said. “Not only do I love my job — I have a passion to give back and help people break cycles, and learn how to hopefully have long-term fixes, instead of just quick fixes. But the families — they need these programs.”

She has been encouraging people on social media to call their local congressional representatives to express their concerns and sign a petition NHSA has been circulating.

Head Start was spearheaded by Sargent Shriver, the brother-in-law of President John F. Kennedy, as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s anti-poverty programs.

Shriver’s daughter, journalist Maria Shriver, condemned the budget proposal on X, writing: “My dad started Head Start. Head Start has changed the lives of millions of families. Head Start’s work is vital to children and working families today. This is a potential disaster. Let’s not let this happen!”

Several Democratic politicians also took issue with the idea.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said on X: “No, Mr. Trump. We won’t allow you to pay for tax breaks to billionaires by eliminating Head Start which provides early education to over 800,000 children… Your budget proposal is morally obscene. It must be defeated.”

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said, “The Trump Administration is once again going back on their word, and now, HeadStart programs that more than 10,000 kids and their families across our state depend on are at risk. I will fight any action that messes with our kids and families.”

“Head Start programs provide essential child care to hundreds of thousands of families in our most vulnerable communities across our country,” Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono said. “Early childhood education, developmental screenings, meals, health care—cut, all thanks to Trump.”

The White House has taken down some government websites providing COVID-19 information and replaced them with a new boldly styled page dedicated to the controversial theory that the pandemic was caused by the virus leaking from a Chinese government laboratory.

The original federal websites, covid.gov and covidtests.gov, had provided the public with basic information about COVID-19, such as vaccines, treatment and testing. But those sites now redirect people to a new page, titled: “Lab Leak. The True Origins of COVID-19.”

One of the pages replaced by the Lab Leak website was this COVID-19 information page, documented here via webarchive.org.

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webarchive.org/Screenshot by NPR

The lab leak theory argues that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID, escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a Chinese government lab in Wuhan, China, and then spread around the world.

Federal agencies have issued conflicting reports about the origins of the pandemic and a House investigation concluded last December said a lab leak is the most likely scenario. But many scientists think it’s more likely the virus originated naturally in a wild animal and then spilled over into people in a wildlife market located in Wuhan.

The new page, which features a full-color image of President Trump superimposed over giant text of the words “Lab Leak,” criticizes the Biden administration’s response to the pandemic, including promoting masks, lockdowns and social distancing.

“Public health officials often mislead the American people through conflicting messaging, knee-jerk reactions, and a lack of transparency,” the White House site says. “Most egregiously, the federal government demonized alternative treatments and disfavored narratives, such as the lab leak theory, in a shameful effort to coerce and control the American people’s health decisions.”

It also singles out Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the pandemic, and President Biden’s decision to pardon him. Fauci became a hero to many during the pandemic, but was also vilified for his role in the government’s response.

Part of the Lab Leak webpage includes comments critical of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who helped lead much of the government’s COVID response during Trump’s first presidency and under Biden.

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Whitehouse.gov/Screenshot by NPR

In response to NPR’s question about why covid.gov and covidtests.gov redirect to the newly launched page and what will happen to the information that was available on the now defunct pages, White House spokesperson Kaelan Dorr said via email:

“The Trump administration has been very clear that, in contrast to the previous administration, we WILL be the most transparent administration in U.S. history. Nothing will stop us from innovating and finding creative ways to uphold our end of the bargain.”

In an email to NPR, Jamie Metzl, a critic of the wildlife spillover theory expressed mixed reaction to the new website.

“As someone who has pushed for a full accounting for COVID-19 origins since early 2020, I welcome all efforts to dig deeper,” wrote Metzl, who is a fellow at the Atlantic Council and the author of books on genetics and technology and has been an outspoken critic of the market-origin hypothesis.

“But it would be a terrible shame if such efforts distracted from essential work to help prevent further infections and treat people suffering from COVID-19 and long COVID,” Metzl wrote.

Some scientists were critical of the new site, which they say appears political in intent.

The website presents five bullet points in favor of the lab leak theory. None of them are new, noted Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.

“Every one of the five pieces of evidence supporting the lab leak hypothesis … is factually incorrect, embellished, or presented in a misleading way,” Rasmussen wrote in an email.

“But making evidence-based arguments in good faith about the pandemic’s origin is not the purpose of this document. This is pure propaganda, intended to justify the systematic devastation of the federal government, particularly programs devoted to public health and biomedical research,” Rasmussen added.

Other scientists said the web site doesn’t follow the existing body of scientific evidence on the issue. That evidence does not support “any of the many, often contradictory, lab leak scenarios that have been proposed,” Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona, in an email to NPR.

He argued that the evidence is consistent with “the less flashy hypothesis that bringing live animals infected with pathogens with pandemic potential into the heart of one of the biggest cities in the world was how this pandemic started.”

He added: “It is a matter of national, and global, security to understand how risky such practices remain, and the next pathogen with pandemic potential will find us easy pickings if we don’t appreciate how risky this sort of ‘biosafety level zero’ activity is.”

House Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who chairs the committee that conducted the recently concluded investigation into COVID’s origins, praised the Trump White House for creating the new site.

“President Trump is rightfully providing the American people with the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said in a statement.

The Trump administration is moving forward with efforts to make it easier to fire some federal workers from their jobs, as part of its push to both shrink the federal government and exert more control over it.

On Friday the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposed a rule reclassifying tens of thousands of career civil servants as “at-will” employees, the White House announced in a statement. Removing civil service protections would make workers easier to fire.

The White House said the proposed rule would address “unaccountable, policy-determining federal employees who put their own interests ahead of the American people’s.”

President Trump and his allies, including billionaire Elon Musk, have said they want to “dismantle government bureaucracy,” which they criticize as a “deep state,” and root out what Trump has called “rogue bureaucrats.” They’ve claimed, without presenting evidence, that the government is rife with corrupt employees and non-existent workers. Trump has long argued that his administration should have greater flexibility in appointing people who will faithfully carry out his agenda and firing those who won’t.

“If these government workers refuse to advance the policy interests of the President, or are engaging in corrupt behavior, they should no longer have a job,” Trump wrote in a post about the proposed rule on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

The effort to strip civil service protections from some workers began on Trump’s first day back in office, with an executive order reinstating an order Trump signed at the end of his first term, in 2020. (That order was rescinded by then-President Biden days after he took office.) The latest Trump order creates a new category of political appointees in the federal workforce, originally called Schedule F.

OPM estimates 50,000 positions, or about 2% of federal workers, will be reclassified under the new rule, which renames Schedule F as Schedule Policy/Career. According to the White House statement, it would apply to “career employees with important policy-determining, policy-making, policy-advocating, or confidential duties.” It said once OPM issues its final rule, another executive order would actually reclassify specific positions as Schedule Policy/Career.

“This rule empowers federal agencies to swiftly remove employees in policy-influencing roles for poor performance, misconduct, corruption, or subversion of Presidential directives, without lengthy procedural hurdles,” the White House statement said.

It added that Schedule Policy/Career jobs “are not required to personally or politically support the President, but must faithfully implement the law and the administration’s policies.” They will continue to be filled by “existing nonpartisan, merit-based hiring processes,” the White House said.

The American Federation of Government Employees has sued the administration to protect civil service workers, and in a statement Friday its president, Everett Kelley, said that this latest action “will erode the government’s merit-based hiring system and undermine the professional civil service that Americans rely on.”

Friday’s proposed rule comes as Trump continues making sweeping changes to the federal government, shuttering some agencies and moving ahead with mass firings.

Trump has also ousted other government employees he sees as insufficiently loyal, including firing more than a dozen Justice Department officials who worked on federal criminal investigations into him.