The Stunning Size of Trump’s Purge at Federal Health Agencies

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Reuters
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Happy Thursday! It certainly was a happy day for President Trump, who celebrated a New York appeals court decision that tossed out a roughly $527 million civil fraud penalty against him as "excessive" - though a deeply divided five-judge panel did not nix the ruling that he had committed fraud by inflating the value of his properties for tax and insurance benefits. That allows the case to move on to the state's highest court. In a lengthy social media post, Trump claimed victory and wrote: "I greatly respect the fact that the Court had the Courage to throw out this unlawful and disgraceful Decision that was hurting Business all throughout New York State."

In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James said she will appeal and noted that the court had "affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud."

Here's what else is happening.

The Stunning Scale of Trump's Purge at Federal Health Agencies

The Trump administration's cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services go deeper than it has acknowledged, according to a new analysis by ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization.

The report, which analyzed public information from the HHS employee directory, found that more than 20,500 workers, or about 18% of the department's workforce, have left or been pushed out as of August 16.

"More than 3,000 scientists and public health specialists are gone," ProPublica's Brandon Roberts, Annie Waldman and Pratheek Rebala write. "Over 1,000 regulators and safety inspectors have also left." They add that their analysis doesn't include workers who have received layoff notices but remain on administrative leave, a group that could number in the hundreds or thousands.

The analysis also finds that the cuts span all health agencies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has lost 15% of its staff, while the National Institutes of Health has lost 16% and the Food and Drug Administration workforce has been cut 21%.

The cuts, part of a broader Trump administration effort to slash the federal workforce and a reorganization of Health and Human Services overseen by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have reportedly "left departments stretching to perform their basic functions," ProPublica reports.

"Food and drug facility inspectors are having to go to the store and buy supplies on their own dime so they can take swab samples to test for pathogens," the report says, adding that some divisions "have experienced a brain drain of epic proportions."

Experts tell ProPublica that the cuts are endangering public health, making Americans less safe in a variety of other ways and will have long-lasting effects.

The report also notes that the cuts run counter to some of the priorities touted by Kennedy and the administration: "The secretary who has questioned the safety of vaccines has pushed out scores of regulators who work to make vaccines safe. And while he has declared a new era in the fight against chronic disease, he has decimated a center dedicated to that very goal."

ProPublica says HHS did not dispute its findings but pushed back on the idea that Kennedy is weakening public health. "Yes, we've made cuts - to bloated bureaucracies that were long overdue for accountability," a department spokesperson reportedly said in an email. "At the same time, we are working to redirect resources to science that delivers measurable impact, rebuilds public trust, and helps Make America Healthy Again."

Read the full report at ProPublica.

US and EU Announce a Framework for a Trade Deal

Over the last few weeks, President Trump has announced trade deals with a number of major trading partners, but details of the handshake agreements have been hard to come by. On Thursday, the White House spelled out some of the elements of its recent agreement with the European Union via a joint statement that serves as a "first step" toward formally defining new terms of trade between the massive economies.

The statement, which is not legally enforceable, affirms that the U.S. intends to impose a 15% tariff on most imports from the 27 EU nations. The goods covered by that basic rate include pharmaceuticals - a relief for EU producers who had been threatened with tariffs as high as 200%. Semiconductors, wine and lumber will also be tariffed at 15%.

The basic 15% rate will not apply to vehicles and auto parts, which face a 27.5% tariff, at least initially. According to the statement, the U.S. will reduce that tariff once the EU "formally introduces the necessary legislative proposal" to reduce tariffs on a variety of U.S.-made industrial and agricultural goods.

The industrial inputs of steel and aluminum will also face a higher tariff, with the 50% rate Trump imposed earlier this year remaining in place. The statement says the two sides "intend to consider the possibility to cooperate" on a system that allows that tariff to be reduced at some point in the future.

There was little detail on one of the key elements highlighted by Trump when he first announced the agreement in July. The EU has pledged to invest $600 billion in the U.S. economy, but nothing was said about how that investment would take place or be managed. Thursday's statement does nothing to clarify the issue, simply saying, "European companies are expected to invest an additional $600 billion across strategic sectors in the United States through 2028."

What the experts are saying: Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU, said the statement helps provide "predictability" and "stability" for people on both sides of the Atlantic. "This EU-US trade deal delivers for our citizens & companies, and strengthens transatlantic relations," she said on social media.

EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said that "this is the most favorable trade deal the U.S. has extended to any partner." But he also noted that the process is not over. "This is the beginning," he added. "This framework is the first step, one that can grow over time to cover more sectors, improve market access and strengthen our economic ties even further."

Some critics in Europe, though, have rejected the terms of the framework, which they see as heavily tilted toward the United States. French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said it was a "dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to assert their values and defend their interests, resolves to submissions."

There are also concerns that Trump's tariffs could be struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, throwing international trade into chaos. Ryan Young of the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute told The New York Times that there's a good chance that at least some of Trump's trade moves could be halted. "While everyone is hoping for some tariff stability, this deal probably won't deliver it," he said.

Quote of the Day

"The way things have played out so far, the impact of tariffs has been gradual enough that any behavioral adjustments by the customer have been somewhat muted. But as we replenish inventory at post-tariff price levels, we've continued to see our costs increase each week, which we expect will continue into the third and fourth quarters."

  • Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, talking about the company's second-quarter results on Thursday, per the Financial Times.

Walmart officials said the company is absorbing a portion of the rising tariff costs, holding the line on price increases in order to increase market share. "We're doing what we said we would do," McMillon said. "We're keeping our prices as low as we can for as long as we can."

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