Trump's first term

Pentagon plans to lay off 50,000 employees

The US Department of Defense Pentagon plans to lay off between 50,000 and 60,000 civilian employees, a senior defense official told ABC News. This means that somewhere between five and eight percent of the workforce, a total of 878,000 people, will have to go.

- The number sounds high, but I would focus on the percentage. 5-8 percent cuts are not dramatic, the employee tells ABC.

The goal is for the majority of the layoffs to be through voluntary resignations.

Republican senators are concerned about Donald Trump's conflict with federal judge

Donald Trump's attacks on federal judges in recent days have put Republican members of Congress in a difficult position, writes The Hill.

Many Republican senators openly support Trump's decision to deport more than 200 alleged gang members to Venezuela, despite a federal judge ordering the planes to be turned back.

Behind the scenes, however, there is concern among Republican congressmen that Trump's actions are on the verge of creating a constitutional crisis.

- Most Republican congressmen believe that situations like this must be avoided in the future. They believe in the rule of law, an unnamed Republican strategist told the political site.

Several Republican lawmakers have urged the president to listen to the federal judges and appeal decisions he disagrees with, instead of ignoring them.

Analysis: Judges are the Last Check on Trump's Power

The scariest thing about the White House's desire for "unlimited power" is not how they ignored a judge's order, but that senior officials were indifferent to the fact that they did so, writes CNN's Stephen Collinson in an analysis.

He refers to the Trump administration stepping over the head of federal judge James E. Boasberg when deporting more than 200 Venezuelans - despite Boasberg's refusal. The whole thing has grown into a conflict between the US judiciary and the White House.

"The confrontation is so crucial because the courts are one of the last checks on Trump's power, after he crushed the opposition within the Republican Party," writes Collinson.

Trump also raised the stakes when he said that James E. Boasberg should be impeached, calling him a "radical left-wing lunatic," writes the New York Times' Adam Liptak in an analysis.

“The president made this statement even though the issues at hand have just begun to be heard in a case that appears to be headed to the Supreme Court,” he writes.