The media are united in their purpose of trying to save government workers from the DOGE ax. Across the dial, each evening newscast devoted significant time to creating in their respective audiences an empathy for government bloat.
The most over-the-top of these performances was rendered by the CBS Evening News, which appears to have devoted its remake to extracting as much snark as possible from John Dickerson while on the anchor desk:
CBS EVENING NEWS
2/6/25
6:30 PM
MAURICE DUBOIS: Uncle Sam does not want you, not anymore. Good evening. I'm Maurice Dubois.
JOHN DICKERSON: I'm John Dickerson. That is the message President Trump is sending millions of federal workers. Mr. Trump, who spent years firing people on a TV show, is now doing it for real.
DUBOIS: He is firing federal government employees or offering buyouts. The White House says tens of thousands have accepted, but labor unions are suing to stop the buyout, and today a judge paused it temporarily.
DICKERSON: The president is also targeting thousands of FBI agents and other Bureau employees for possible firing. Those who were involved in the investigation of the January 6th riot at The Capitol. Today, another judge blocked the Justice Department from releasing a list of their names.
DUBOIS: Scott Macfarlane spoke with an agent on that list who says the Bureau is in turmoil. We are protecting the agent’s identity here tonight. Scott?
SCOTT MACFARLANE: Yeah, Maurice, this fear of firings is spreading inside the FBI among agents who have tried to track down terrorists, child predators, and violent gangs, but who also were part of the investigation into January 6th.
The largest criminal investigation and FBI history has given way to potentially its largest crisis. Do you think this is a distraction?
ANONYMOUS FBI AGENT: Absolutely. I personally have lost sleep over this.
MACFARLANE: This agent, who helped arrest January 6th rioters, fears retaliation from new leadership at the Justice Department for speaking with CBS News.
Leave it to Dickerson to follow DuBois’ hysterical “Uncle Sam doesn’t want you” open with some Apprentice snark. The only thing of significance that this revamped newscast and its weird format have achieved so far is to make America miss Norah O’Donnell.
Temporarily pivoting away from USAID, CBS chose to focus on potential FBI firings and a concomitant video package by resident J6 hysteric Scott MacFarlane. It is abundantly clear that FBI agents who simply followed orders will not be fired, thus rendering this entire exercise, including the now-ubiquitous witness protection interview, completely meaningless. But in service of this hysterical report, MacFarlane waited until the end before including that important disclaimer. Why bother with counternarrative facts when there is fear to stoke and resistance to incite?
NBC Nightly News, normally the most restrained of the three major network newscasts, also took an indulgent route to this story. Anchor Lester Holt’s introduction to Peter Alexander’s report tried to conjure up a groundswell of protest.
LESTER HOLT: Good evening, and welcome. New roadblocks are standing in front of Elon Musk's efforts to slash government spending. A federal judge today placing a hold on the Trump administration's offer to pay federal workers to resign their positions. An offer that was to expire tonight. The buyouts accepted by over 60,000 employees, according to a senior government official, but NBC News reporting the Trump administration is applying new pressure, now warning workers their jobs may be in jeopardy. Opposition to the billionaire's unprecedented access and authority, including to certain government systems continues to swell, with protests across the country. Democrats ramping up their own pressure, decrying Musk and the hastily created office he runs as part of an illegal power grab. Republicans, cheering the cost-cutting efforts as so many federal workers worry about their futures.
Our Executive Editor Tim Graham rightly points out that these are the same guys that downplay the millions-strong March for Life year after year. But if four cats gather outside a federal building with anti-Elon signage, you can be sure that they’ll get covered.
We are living in such uncharted times that the until recently Biden-sycophantic ABC World News Tonight is delivering the most measured coverage, at least in comparison to their counterparts. Rachel Scott still insisting, though, on casting USAID as a pristine relief agency:
RACHEL SCOTT: Musk and his team digging into federal agencies over the weekend. Taking over USAID, the relief agency that helped an estimated 32 million children suffering malnutrition, and brought food, water, shelter, and health care to victims of natural disasters. Tonight, sources tell us USAID's global workforce will soon be reduced from roughly 14,000 people to fewer than 300 employees. An internal email shared with ABC News shows just 12 employees to be assigned to the entire continent of Africa, and only 21 to the whole Middle East.
Imagine how many more kids could’ve been fed but for the transgender opera and atheism courses and the millions sent to Politico and other media outlets (for whatever reason). None of that made into coverage of the potential firing of government employees, an essential part of the de-bloat of the administrative state.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on their respective newscasts on Thursday, February 6th, 2025:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
2/6/25
6:38 PM
DAVID MUIR: Tonight, the new developments just hours before this midnight deadline for millions of federal workers to take a buyout or risk being fired. A federal judge now putting President Trump's plan on hold until at least Monday. Unions filing to stop it, calling it unlawful. Today, President Trump praising Elon Musk, who helped engineer the plan. The president saying Musk is very good at helping the government cut costs. That email sent to federal workers titled "Fork in the Road," suggesting take the buyout or risk being cut. Here's our Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott tonight.
RACHEL SCOTT: Tonight, just hours from the midnight deadline, a federal judge putting President Trump's buyout offer for 2 million federal workers on hold, after unions called it arbitrary and unlawful. The White House says the ruling just gives workers more time to take advantage of what they call a once in a lifetime offer.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: It's going to save the American people tens of millions of dollars and we encourage federal workers in this city to accept the very generous offer.
SCOTT: It's been nine days since federal workers received this email, with a stark choice. Resign now and be paid through September, or run the risk of being laid off. The email's title, "Fork in the Road." The same one billionaire Elon Musk used when he slashed the workforce at Twitter. Sheria Smith, a civil rights attorney at the Department of Education and a union official, calls the offer insulting.
SHERIA SMITH: Members of this administration think so little of us and our commitment to the public that we would take an offer like this and end our careers with the public.
SCOTT: But the administration says more than 60,000 government workers have taken the buyout deal. We spoke with one of them, who did not want to be identified.
ANONYMOUS FEDERAL EMPLOYEE: I kind of debated it for the night, and I was like, should I do it, should I not do it? And then I finally did respond for resign, and then I just waited.
SCOTT: His email was acknowledged, but since then, confusion and frustration.
ANONYMOUS FEDERAL EMPLOYEE: I thought, okay, well I'll wait maybe a day or two, I'll hear from somebody, and then nothing. Dead silence. I would go to my computer and check thinking, well, maybe it's late at night and they're working. But nothing would come and nothing would come. And then I was, like, nervous.
SCOTT: Sheria Smith says workers should not count on this deal.
SMITH: I don't trust it at all.
SCOTT: Today President Trump heaping praise on Musk and his overall mission to cut costs.
DONALD TRUMP: Elon Musk is helping us on it. And he's pretty good. He's pretty good. Pretty good at it.
SCOTT: Musk and his team digging into federal agencies over the weekend. Taking over USAID, the relief agency that helped an estimated 32 million children suffering malnutrition, and brought food, water, shelter, and health care to victims of natural disasters. Tonight, sources tell us USAID's global workforce will soon be reduced from roughly 14,000 people to fewer than 300 employees. An internal email shared with ABC News shows just 12 employees to be assigned to the entire continent of Africa, and only 21 to the whole Middle East. And David, back to those buyouts. The judge will hold another hearing on Monday. The administration insisting tonight that this program has not been blocked or canceled, but layoffs are on the horizon. Health agencies, including the CDC, have been asked to rank their newest employees, David.
MUIR: Rachel Scott at The White House tonight. Rachel, thank you.
CBS EVENING NEWS
2/6/25
6:30 PM
MAURICE DUBOIS: Uncle Sam does not want you, not anymore. Good evening. I'm Maurice Dubois.
JOHN DICKERSON: I'm John Dickerson. That is the message President Trump is sending millions of federal workers. Mr. Trump, who spent years firing people on a TV show, is now doing it for real.
DUBOIS: He is firing federal government employees or offering buyouts. The White House says tens of thousands have accepted, but labor unions are suing to stop the buyout, and today a judge paused it temporarily.
DICKERSON: The president is also targeting thousands of FBI agents and other Bureau employees for possible firing. Those who were involved in the investigation of the January 6th riot at The Capitol. Today, another judge blocked the Justice Department from releasing a list of their names.
DUBOIS: Scott Macfarlane spoke with an agent on that list who says the Bureau is in turmoil. We are protecting the agent’s identity here tonight. Scott?
SCOTT MACFARLANE: Yeah, Maurice, this fear of firings is spreading inside the FBI among agents who have tried to track down terrorists, child predators, and violent gangs, but who also were part of the investigation into January 6th.
The largest criminal investigation and FBI history has given way to potentially its largest crisis. Do you think this is a distraction?
ANONYMOUS FBI AGENT: Absolutely. I personally have lost sleep over this.
MACFARLANE: This agent, who helped arrest January 6th rioters, fears retaliation from new leadership at the Justice Department for speaking with CBS News.
ANONYMOUS FBI AGENT: We just have a lot of unknowns, and it feels like no one has our backs.
MACFARLANE: Trump allies of the Justice Department ordered the FBI to send a questionnaire nationwide to identify the personnel who investigated January 6th, and make a list for leadership to review. The agent is one of approximately 5,000 names on that list.
What was it like, filling out that questionnaire? Saying what you did and when you did it?
ANONYMOUS FBI AGENT: Really demoralizing. Defeated- I think we all felt defeated. And forgotten -- really for nothing.
MACFARLANE: The scrutiny and storm cloud hovering over FBI employees over their work on cases that yielded more than 1,000 guilty pleas and a 100% conviction rate in jury trials sends a chilling message, the agent warns.
ANONYMOUS FBI AGENT: Do moving forward, do we pick and choose, or we’ll have to pick and choose what we feel comfortable --
MACFARLANE: You think this might scare people off taking certain cases in the future?
ANONYMOUS FBI AGENT. Absolutely. I mean- we are all humans.
MACFARLANE: Agents who testified or signed their names to public court documents worry of retaliation from riot defendants.
REPORTER: For your followers- any message to them?
ENRIQUE TARRIO: Keep the fight. Fight, fight, fight.
MACFARLANE: Or their sympathizers.
ANONYMOUS FBI AGENT It’s almost as if these defendants that were all pardoned have been put on a poster of being more patriotic and more loyal to this country than the men and women who go out every single day away from their families and put their lives on the line.
MACFARLANE: What do you make of that?
ANONYMOUS FBI AGENT: I really am at a loss of words. It hurts. I'll say that. It hurts.
MACFARLANE: A Justice Department official in a message to the FBI earlier this week said agents who were simply following orders or carried out their duties in an ethical manner will not be subject to disciplinary issues. But, John and Maurice, agents and their attorneys say they are not convinced.
DICKERSON: Scott, how much of a distraction is this, all of this, to what FBI agents are paid to do?
MACFARLANE: A remarkable distraction according to that agent, checking their email every so often, wondering if that’s the time you’re going to get a termination notice. There’s also this anecdote from an association representing agents: they say there was one who was pulled off the response to that plane crash at Reagan National Airport to go back and fill out the January 6th survey, then return to the crash site.
DUBOIS: Boy. Scott, it is so rare for an agent to speak out publicly like this. I’m wondering: do they feel like they can ever get back to normal and just do their jobs?
MACFARLANE: The agents are concerned there has been a fracture, Maurice, in the independence of the Department of Justice. The legendary Independence of the FBI. That that is now broken indefinitely.
DUBOIS: Okay. Scott MacFarlane, thanks so much tonight.
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
2/6/25
6:31 PM
LESTER HOLT: Good evening, and welcome. New roadblocks are standing in front of Elon Musk's efforts to slash government spending. A federal judge today placing a hold on the Trump administration's offer to pay federal workers to resign their positions. An offer that was to expire tonight. The buyouts accepted by over 60,000 employees, according to a senior government official, but NBC News reporting the Trump administration is applying new pressure, now warning workers their jobs may be in jeopardy. Opposition to the billionaire's unprecedented access and authority, including to certain government systems continues to swell, with protests across the country. Democrats ramping up their own pressure, decrying Musk and the hastily created office he runs as part of an illegal power grab. Republicans, cheering the cost-cutting efforts as so many federal workers worry about their futures. Peter Alexander has details.
PETER ALEXANDER: Tonight, just hours ahead of the White House deadline, a federal judge has paused the Trump administration from implementing its buyout program for all federal workers. That buyout offer, part of the president's campaign pledge to save taxpayer money by slashing the federal workforce. But labor unions went to court to block it, arguing it violated multiple laws, and now that judge has put the buyouts on hold until Monday. A senior administration official says more than 60,000 federal employees have accepted the offer. That represents more than 2% of the federal government's civilian workforce. Officials here previously said they expected 5 to 10% to take the buyout.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: What President Trump and Elon Musk and this entire administration is trying to do is make our bloated bureaucracy here in Washington run like a profitable business.
ALEXANDER: And tonight, the Trump administration is ramping up pressure to take the buyout. An email to all eligible federal workers obtained by NBC News warns those who do not could lose their jobs. Reading, in part, "At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position." The president today touting progress on his pledge to slash spending.
DONALD TRUMP: We got rid of woke over the last two weeks.
ALEXANDER: And praising Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, including its effort to dismantle USAID, that distributes billions of dollars in foreign aid.
TRUMP: They can't believe they're getting caught, and I have great respect for the people that are doing it. Elon Musk is helping us on it. And he's pretty good.
ALEXANDER: Tonight, The Washington Post reports DOGE employees have gained access to highly restricted government records on millions of federal employees, including Treasury and State Department officials in sensitive security positions, according to four U.S. officials with knowledge of the developments. And The White House confirms that a DOGE staffer approved by a federal judge to access Treasury Department payment systems has resigned after The Wall Street Journal asked about his links to a deleted social media account that advocated for racism and eugenics. Meanwhile, federal workers tonight are in limbo. Alphonso McCree accepted the buyout offer.
ALPHONSO MCCREE: The timing couldn't have been any better, but there was also that concern of, like, well, this is kind of weird. Is this actually legal?
ALEXANDER: While Holly, who asks we don't use her last name, did not.
HOLLY: Well, I'm glad I didn't take the buyout at all. I don't trust that the administration will keep their promise.
ALEXANDER: Meanwhile, Musk's X profile now reads “White HouseTech Support”, and Democrats are slamming his effort to downsize the federal government as illegal.
HAKEEM JEFFRIES: What we are seeing unfold is an unlawful power grab by a unelected and unaccountable billionaire puppet master who's pulling the strings of House Republicans and apparently the Trump administration.
ALEXANDER: But Republicans are applauding Musk's cost-cutting mission.
JAMES COMER: I think it's very popular with the American people. Trump Derangement Syndrome is a virus that the Democrats have had for four years. It appears that that virus has mutated into Musk Derangement Syndrome now.
HOLT: Peter, if we can turn back to the USAID, the agency that provides foreign aid, you've got some new reporting about major cuts there.
ALEXANDER: Lester, the Trump administration is expected to reduce the ranks of USAID to roughly 290 workers out of more than 5,000 foreign service officers, civil servants and contractors currently employed there. That's according to people familiar with the plans. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, Lester, says they are not trying to be punitive but are trying to align the agency with America’s national interests.
HOLT: Peter Alexander, thank you.
