Hundreds protest Trump and Musk outside US Capitol
Hundreds gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Monday to protest Trump and Elon Musk's overhaul of the federal government and the terminations of thousands of federal workers.
The chants and signs largely focused on Musk and DOGE, with repeated chants of "Elon Musk has got to go!" and "Protect federal workers!"
Protesters held signs depicting Trump as Musk's puppet. A number of signs referenced Musk's "Fork in the Road" email, with some demonstrators even taping forks to their signs.
-ABC News' Fritz Farrow, Jay O'Brien and Kelsey Walsh
Judge appears inclined to deny states’ request to block DOGE
A federal judge in Washington Monday morning appeared inclined to deny an urgent request to temporarily block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from firing employees or accessing sensitive records from a half-dozen federal departments.
After a nearly hourlong virtual hearing, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said she planned to issue a ruling within 24 hours on a request by 14 state attorneys general to issue a temporary restraining order that would block DOGE from firing employees or accessing data from the departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation, Commerce, and the Office of Personnel Management.
Describing the states’ request as “prophylactic,” Chutkan expressed skepticism about issuing a wide-reaching order while the plaintiffs struggled to prove a concrete harm stemming from DOGE’s conduct.
“The court can’t act based on the media reports. We can't do that,” Chutkan said. “The things that I'm hearing are concerning indeed and troubling indeed but I have to have a record, and I have to make a finding the facts before I issue something.”
She said that in order to issue such an urgent temporary restraining order, the states would have to prove a threat of “extreme” and “imminent harm” that “can’t be undone,” but having to “scramble to rehire” might be difficult and challenging, but it can be done.
“I’m not seeing it so far,” Chutkan said.
Read more here.
-From ABC News’ Peter Charalambous, Mike Levine and Katherine Faulders
DOGE appears to miss another website deadline, announces over 30 DOGE X accounts
Elon Musk's DOGE appears to have missed another deadline to provide updates on its "savings" efforts across the U.S. government.
Last week, DOGE initially promised to update its new website with figures by Valentine’s Day. When it missed that deadline, it pushed the update to "over the weekend." Unless DOGE is counting Monday as part of a three-day weekend, it has once again failed to meet its deadline, as the website remains unchanged.
DOGE also announced over 30 DOGE-affiliated agency accounts on X, including DOGE DOJ, DOGE SSA and DOGE NASA -- and are asking users on X to use the affiliated X accounts to submit ideas around "reducing waste, fraud, and abuse, along with any helpful insights or awesome ideas."
-ABC News' Will Steakin
Trump's been hit with more than 70 lawsuits in less than a month
As President Trump nears the end of his first month in office, his administration has attempted to fend off a flood of lawsuits challenging his unilateral effort to reshape the federal government.
With at least 73 lawsuits filed to challenge Trump’s policies, the president has effectively been sued four times for every business day he has occupied the Oval Office, frequently resulting in temporary orders that have stymied his executive actions.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan will hold a virtual hearing to potentially resolve the emergency motion by 14 states seeking to block Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency from continuing to overhaul and cut the federal government.
-ABC News' Peter Charalambous and Katherine Faulders