Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein has reportedly received more than two dozen leaked federal memos and directives cutting agency Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs as well as other directives.
Newsweek reached out to the DEIA email address listed in the department communications via email on Thursday. Newsweek also reached out to the White House for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Shortly after taking office again, President Donald Trump signed the "Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing."
In a memo sent to the acting heads of government DEIA offices on Tuesday, which was first obtained by CBS News and then confirmed by Trump's Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on X, formerly Twitter, the Trump Administration laid out the steps to inform DEIA office employees of the upcoming changes, which include terminating programs and placing staff on paid administrative leave.
Leaked documents to journalists often reveal internal divisions within government offices, although that is not always the case.
What To Know
Klippenstein, who formerly worked at The Intercept and The Nation, writes about national security and politics on his Substack with over 130,000 subscribers. In a Thursday post, he remarked that "I've gotten more leaked documents in the past day than I've gotten on any other day ever," after government workers have flooded his inbox with screenshots of department messages informing employees of DEIA program cuts.
"The signatories of these memos — the people enforcing Trump's war on DEI — are themselves civil servants. They are the high-level career bureaucrats currently running these various agencies. They are not Trump political appointees. In other words, federal employees are split: some particularly among the rank-and-file are mounting a resistance, while the acting directors at the top seem happy to do Trump's bidding," Klippenstein wrote.
In a memo from Charles Ezell, the acting director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, informed department heads to "send a notification to all employees of DEIA offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs."
Later posts included a memo from newly-appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to only display American flags or POW/MIA flags at U.S. facilities (which Klippenstein interpreted to mean no pride flags or similar) and an email from the Department of Health and Human Services ordering an "immediate pause on issuing documents and public communications" from all agencies.
What People Are Saying
The White House Office of Communications said in a "fact sheet" emailed to Newsweek on Tuesday night: "President Trump promised to terminate DEI in the federal government, protect equal opportunity, and force schools to end discriminatory admissions policies, and he delivered."
Several agency unverified email posted by Klippenstein including Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services, and NASA wrote: "We are taking steps to close all agency diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump's executive orders." They also reportedly wrote that efforts to "disguise these programs" should be reported within 10 days, and failure to do so "may result in adverse consequences."
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, wrote in a Wednesday statement: "Ultimately, these attacks on DEIA are just a smokescreen for firing civil servants, undermining the apolitical civil service, and turning the federal government into an army of yes-men loyal only to the president, not the Constitution."
What Happens Next
Government DEIA offices are to shut down by January 31, the same deadline for employees affected by the executive order.
Klippenstein appears set to continue posting the emails and memos he received, along with notable reactions to them.
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