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Top Trump lawyer Alina Habba has insultingly suggested that some U.S. military veterans who were fired from government jobs as part of ongoing massive federal workforce cuts “were not fit to have a job at this moment.”
Habba, who defended Trump in his high-profile sexual abuse case against writer E. Jean Carroll and now works as a counselor to the president, said that the Trump administration cares “tremendously” about veterans but had a “fiscal responsibility” to “pay people that actually work.”
Habba’s defense comes amid the purging of massive numbers of federal workforce, orchestrated by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). According to federal data, veterans make up 28 percent of the workforce.
It’s not clear the fired veterans weren’t working or weren’t earning their pay, as Habba insinuated, since DOGE has not released any details about its findings concerning employees or what standards Musk’s young crew of techies used to determine which workers to ax.
Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee said at least 6,000 veterans had been fired across the federal government as of February 25 as part of DOGE cuts.
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Asked if Donald Trump had considered the impact of the cuts on veterans or their livelihoods, Habba told reporters on Tuesday: “We care about veterans tremendously; that is something the president has always cared about — anybody in blue, anyone who serves this country.”
She added, however: “But at the same time, we have taxpayer dollars, we have a fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars to pay people that actually work.”
That “doesn’t mean we forget our veterans by any means. We’re going to care for them in the right way, but perhaps they’re not fit to have a job at this moment, or not willing to come to work,” she noted, without providing any details backing those scenarios.
“And we can’t, you know, I wouldn’t take money from you and pay somebody, and say sorry, you know … they’re not going to come to work,” Habba added. “It’s just not acceptable.”
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Habba’s remarks came just hours before Trump addresses a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Senate Democrats said their guests for the speech would “include veterans indiscriminately fired as part of the Trump Administration’s mass terminations of federal government employees.”
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said they would be inviting Alissa Ellman, a disabled Army veteran who worked for the Buffalo Veterans Administration helping fellow veterans obtain their benefits.
“Last week, Alissa was locked out of her computer without explanation, and later she found out that she had been terminated by DOGE,” according to a statement released by Senate Democrats..
“She says she routinely exceeded the daily production average, and that the confusion and lack of communication throughout this process has been disrespectful, and she is fighting for better treatment of veterans,” the statement added.
As of September 2021, nearly 640,000 veterans were employed in the federal workforce. Of that number, 53 percent were disabled.
