A federal judge Thursday morning rebuked the Trump administration for allegedly lying about the mass firing of government employees and submitting "sham documents" to defend their conduct.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup slammed a Department of Justice attorney for refusing to make Office of Personnel Management Acting Director Charles Ezell available for cross-examination and withdrawing his sworn declaration.
"The government, I believe, has tried to frustrate the judge's ability to get at the truth of what happened here, and then set forth sham declarations," Alsup, a former President Bill Clinton appointee, said. "That's not the way it works in the U.S. District Court."
Lawyers representing a group of unions and interest groups are now asking Alsup to immediately reinstate thousands of probationary government employees who had been terminated, allegedly at the direction of Ezell.
"There is a mountain of evidence before the court that OPM directed it. OPMs actions were unlawful. The plaintiffs have standing, and there is a reparable harm that is occurring every minute, and it is snowballing," said the plaintiff's attorney Danielle Leonard.
Alsup suggested there might be a "need" for an injunction ordering the reinstatement of the employees based on the government's recent conduct.
The judge continued to bash the government for submitting a declaration from Ezell he believed to be false, then withdrew it and made Ezell unavailable for testimony.
While Alsup originally suggested the avenue to contest the firings could be administrative, he noted that the Trump administration is attempting to "decimate" and "cannibalize" the Merit Systems Protection Board by firing its head and Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger.
-ABC News' Peter Charalambous
