POLITICS

State Department is laying off over 1,300 staffers under Trump administration plan

Jul 11, 2025, 4:29 AM | Updated: 6:16 am

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio gestures as he boards his flight before departing from Subang Air...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio gestures as he boards his flight before departing from Subang Air Base, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, on Friday, July 11, 2025, after attending the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting. (Mandel Ngan/Pool Photo via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(Mandel Ngan/Pool Photo via AP)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The State Department is firing over 1,300 career diplomats and civil servants in line with a dramatic reorganization plan initiated by the Trump administration earlier this year.

A senior State Department official said Friday the department is sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with domestic assignments in the United States.

While lauded by President Donald Trump’s administration as overdue and necessary to make the department leaner and more efficient, the cuts have been roundly criticized by current and former diplomats who say they will weaken U.S. influence and its ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad.

Politics

FILE - Daniel Bongino speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, June 10, 2...

Associated Press

Fallout over Epstein files cascades, roiling relations between AG Pam Bondi and FBI’s Dan Bongino

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department and FBI are struggling to contain the fallout and appease the demands of far-right conservative personalities and influential members of President Donald Trump’s base after the administration’s decision this week to withhold records from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation. The move, which included the acknowledgment that one particular […]

25 minutes ago

Associated Press

Court overturns ex-state attorney’s mortgage fraud conviction but upholds perjury convictions

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday overturned a mortgage fraud conviction of former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who gained a national profile for charging police officers in a Black man’s death. But the court upheld two perjury convictions relating to real estate she purchased. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of […]

1 hour ago

FILE - Eggs sit in a container in a shopping cart at grocery store, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, in Windh...

Associated Press

Trump administration sues California over egg prices and blames animal welfare laws

The Trump administration is suing the state of California to block animal welfare laws that it says unconstitutionally helped send egg prices soaring. But a group that spearheaded the requirements pushed back, blaming bird flu for the hit to consumers’ pocketbooks. The lawsuit, come from cage-free hens. The Trump administration says the law imposes burdensome […]

2 hours ago

Supporters of Kilmar Abrego Garcia rally outside of the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., wher...

Associated Press

Judge scolds Justice Department for ‘refusal’ to detail deportation plans for Kilmar Abrego Garcia

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge in Maryland scolded the Trump administration on Friday for its “utter refusal” to detail its deportation plans for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, including where the government plans to send him and whether he’ll get a chance to fight his expulsion before he’s whisked away. The Salvadoran national could be […]

3 hours ago

Work progresses on a new migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," at Dade-Collier Tr...

Associated Press

Detainees describe worms in food, sewage near beds inside ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

MIAMI (AP) — Worms in the food. Toilets that don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste. Days without a shower or prescription medicine. Mosquitoes and insects everywhere. Lights on all night. Air conditioners that suddenly shut off in the tropical heat. Detainees forced to use recorded phone lines to speak with their lawyers and loved […]

4 hours ago

The White House is pictured, Thursday, July 10, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhin...

Associated Press

The Latest: Trump will visit Texas to survey flood damage

President Donald Trump will head to Texas for a firsthand look at the devastation caused by catastrophic flooding that has killed at least 120 people, which the administration has characterized as a once-in-a-lifetime event. While the administration isn’t backing away from its pledges to shutter the Federal Emergency Management Agency and return disaster response to […]

10 hours ago

State Department is laying off over 1,300 staffers under Trump administration plan