White House says some employees were fired by mistake

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) slashed 89 independent research contracts at the department’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) worth nearly $900 million, according to DOGE’s post on X and confirmed by a department spokesperson.

IES conducts statistics, research, and evaluation for millions of students across
the country. Some of its American Institutes for Research (AIR) evaluation and
education statistics contracts have been terminated, AIR’s managing director
for corporate communications, Dana Tofig, told ABC News. Tofig blasted DOGE’s
cuts as an “incredible waste of taxpayer dollars.”

Under IES, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) administers the NAEP
assessment otherwise known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” but the test will continue.
An education department spokesperson told ABC News, “NAEP, College Scorecard,
and College Navigator were not impacted in any contract cancellations.”

The most recent NAEP results showed America’s fourth- and eighth-grade students’ sliding reading scores worsened in 2024, highlighting major delays in academic recovery
after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Students are not where they need to be or where we want them to be,” National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Commissioner Peggy G. Carr said last month before
the NAEP results were published.

“We don't know what will happen to NCES or NAEP,” Carr said when asked by ABC News. “We are hopeful that people will see the value in these data and what we are doing for the country.”

In a joint statement, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics said the cancellations will
harm students’ academic progress.

A handful of DOGE staffers have already been spotted at department headquarters in
Washington. Some DOGE workers have taken up offices inside the department, were
hired as department employees, and now have access to the department’s records
and files, according to sources familiar.

Meanwhile, multiple lawsuits have been brought by student groups and labor unions this
week alleging individuals associated with DOGE are illegally attempting to
access the personal and financial information of millions of Americans through
the departments of education, treasury, and Office of Personnel Management.

-ABC News’ Arthur Jones II

Elon Musk’s DOGE made sizable cuts to the U.S. Department of Education, slashing 89 independent research contracts at the department’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) worth nearly $900 million, according to DOGE’s post on X and confirmed by a department spokesperson.

IES conducts the statistics, research, and evaluation for millions of students across the country. Some of its American Institutes for Research (AIR) evaluation and education statistics contracts have been terminated, AIR’s managing director for corporate communications, Dana Tofig, told ABC News. AIR expands apprenticeships to strengthen workforce systems and increases the effectiveness of education nationwide, according to its website.

Tofig blasted DOGE’s cuts as an “incredible waste of taxpayer dollars.”

-- ABC News' Arthur Jones

In a new Truth Social post, Trump said he is sending Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine to meet with President Zelenskyy.

"I am sending Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent to Ukraine to meet President Zelensky. This War MUST and WILL END SOON — Too much Death and Destruction. The U.S. has spent BILLIONS of Dollars Globally, with little to show. WHEN AMERICA IS STRONG, THE WORLD IS AT PEACE," Trump wrote.

It's notable that Trump is dispatching the treasury secretary, rather than the secretary of state, to meet with Zelenskyy.

Vance is also expected to meet with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Trump teased during his Oval Office spray last night that he was expecting to speak with Zelenskyy, and stressed he wanted the war to end.

-- ABC News' Molly Nagle

Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday alleged that Kash Patel has “been personally directing the ongoing purge of career civil servants” at the FBI ahead of his confirmation to be leader of the agency.

On the Senate floor and in a letter sent to Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Tuesday, the Illinois Democrat said he’d received information from “credible whistleblowers at the highest levels” that the firings of career officials came at the direction of Patel, who is still a “private citizen,” and in coordination with White House Deputy Chief of Staff to the President Stephen Miller, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, and a newly-established FBI Director’s Advisory Team.

If the allegations are true, Durbin also said that Trump’s pick to be FBI Director “may have perjured himself” before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month at his confirmation hearing.

-- ABC News' Isabella Murray