Trump appointees put nearly all 10K USAID workers globally on leave, in apparent try to close agency

Nearly all 10,000 workers at USAID, American's main aid agency, will be put on leave by the end of Friday, according to an official memo the agency posted online Tuesday night.

The move in the most recent effort in what appears to be Trump appointees effort to shutdown the agency.

Multiple USAID employees had already been laid off before the notice was posted, according to The Associated Press.

Agency staffers were also given notice of the change Tuesday via email.

The notice said only a small subset of “designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs” would be exempt, according to The New York Times. The newspaper reports agency has about a 10,000-person workforce

Employees designated as direct hires will be put on paid leave, and those posted abroad will be expected to return to the United States within 30 days, the notice also reads.