Federal DEI websites go dark after Trump order and threat of ‘consequences’ The sites went down a day after the Office of Personnel Management sent a memo to all agencies Tuesday calling for all DEI workers to be placed on paid leave by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
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The Trump administration on Wednesday urged government employees to inform each other and their departments to root out any attempts to hide diversity programs.
The latest escalation in U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) comes a day after he pressured the private sector to join the initiative and told government employees in offices administering such programs they would be placed on paid leave.
Trump also issued a series of executive orders to dismantle DEI programs on his first day in office on Monday, marking a complete reversal from his predecessor Democrat Joe Biden, who prioritized DEI programs and initiatives across the federal government.
DEI programs attempt to promote opportunities for women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people, and other traditionally underrepresented groups.
Civil rights advocates have argued such programs are necessary to address longstanding inequities and structural racism. Trump and his supporters say DEI programs end up unfairly discriminating against other Americans and weaken the importance of candidates' merit in job hiring or promotion.
In a new message distributed on Wednesday, government employees were warned they would face "adverse consequences" if they failed to promptly report any hidden DEI programs.
"We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language," said the memo, which set a 10-day deadline for information.
It was not immediately clear what evidence the administration has of any efforts to conceal diversity programs.
"There will be no adverse consequences for timely reporting this information. However, failure to report this information within 10 days may result in adverse consequences," the memo said.
The same language was sent to employees of several departments and attributed to different members of Trump's cabinet - for example, it came from Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department and from Acting Attorney General James McHenry at the Justice Department.
Trump's latest attack on DEI drew widespread criticism from civil rights advocates.
Psyche Williams-Forson, a professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland, said long-standing resentments among white men were resurfacing and helped enable Trump's political comeback despite his felony convictions and the civil judgments against him for fraud and sexual abuse.
"This country is fundamentally founded on racist principles. It always has been and it continues to be. There was no way in the world that America was going to allow another Black person to succeed. Obama just totally defied the odds," Williams-Forson said.
U.S. Representative Hank Johnson, a Democrat from Georgia, accused Trump of "turning back the clock and dismantling decades of progress made by Black people."
Noreen Farrell, executive director of Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), a nonprofit group promoting gender equality, said Trump's executive orders would also impede American competitiveness.
"The message is clear: this administration is willing to sacrifice both civil rights and economic growth to advance an extremist agenda," Farrell said in a statement.
Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, formally announced Wednesday that the organization and its partners plan to identify two companies in the next 90 days that will be boycotted for abandoning DEI pledges. Reuters first reported the coordinated action ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The White House did not respond to a request from Reuters to address criticism from civil rights advocates.
Trump has also sought to dissuade private companies that receive government contracts from using DEI programs and hiring based on race and sex and asks government agencies to identify private companies that might be subject to civil investigation.
The federal government committed $739 billion to contractors in fiscal year 2023, according to the Government Accountability Office, and the programs Trump is attacking are intended to ensure minority-led businesses are not overlooked due to discrimination.
Trump's actions mark a significant setback to decades-long efforts to ensure equality in federal hiring and contracts.
Tuesday night's order rescinded a 1965 executive order signed by former Democrat President Lyndon B. Johnson that prohibited federal contractors from discriminating in employment and employed affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity based on race, color, religion, and national origin.
Johnson's order was seen as a significant moment of progress in the civil rights movement, coming at a time when Black Americans faced the threat of violence and "Jim Crow" laws that prohibited them from voting and from living in predominantly white neighborhoods.
President Donald Trump's escalating pressure on the private sector to ditch diversity programs has left some in Davos searching for new words to describe workplace practices they say are essential to their businesses.
Trump has issued a series of executive orders cutting federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, which attempt to promote opportunities for women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people, and other traditionally underrepresented groups.
He has also sought to dissuade private companies that receive government contracts from factoring underrepresentation into hiring decisions.
Trump's moves on DEI have reverberated through the corridors of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, where gender parity, diverse workforces, and better representation of minorities around the world continue to be key goals.
While tech companies Meta (META.O), opens new tab and Amazon (AMZN.O), opens a new tab, which holds U.S. government contracts, say they are scaling back some initiatives, other executives at Davos told Reuters they will remain, if by another name.
"There's a lot of talk and a lot of maybe even controversy around the names of things," said Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, CEO of Portugal's largest utility company EDP, (EDP.LS), opens new tab, which has 40% of its investments focused on renewable energy in the U.S.
"The important thing is we want to have the best talent in the company, from wherever it may be, men, women, different ethnicities, and we want to make sure that people ... have the best working conditions and feel comfortable," he said.
"We're not working for DEI tick the box," Stilwell added.
Other policymakers and executives said the acronym DEI had become damaging, even as they doubled down on their commitment to diversity.
"It became toxic, as has ESG, and there are some wrong reasons for that and there are some right reasons for that," Lutfey Siddiqi, Special Envoy of the Head of the Interim Government of Bangladesh, said on a panel about gender parity.
"But I'm more interested in what is effective, how we get to the result as opposed to the label," Siddiqi added.
DEI initiatives were introduced by many companies and governments around the world to address historical inequities in the workforce. While some gains have been made in recent years, gender parity has not been reached in any country.
Proponents warn that continued rollbacks may endanger recent advances.
TECH CONTRACTS
Reuters spoke with at least three tech executives whose companies have contracts with the U.S. government. They said they remained committed to diversity programs in the workplace.
Although the risk of losing contracts because of Trump's executive orders would force them to look for new ways to describe DEI initiatives, they would not cut them entirely.
One European tech company executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that it would not be rowing back on its commitment to inclusion and diversity.
"For many years we have worked to shape a more sustainable, equitable world. It's rooted in our company culture," the person said.
"The world is diverse and the employee base reflects that diversity. It is one of the keys to great innovation and is good for business."
Not all in Davos share that sentiment.
Alexandr Wang, CEO of high-profile start-up Scale AI, cheered Trump's executive orders in a post on X and called for the promotion of MEI (merit, excellence, and intelligence) in tech.
Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also welcomed what she said was a retreat from DEI.
"In every business, you are starting to see pulling back from DEI and I welcome that, I think it's really important," Haley told a panel on the sidelines of the WEF meeting.
"What we're seeing in America,is everybody just wants to be Americans. They don't want to be a label. They don't feel like they can take it anymore," Haley added.
One European industrial company with a large U.S. footprint said it would continue with its diversity and inclusion programs because they were important to the business as well as society.
"We will stick to our values of tolerance and respect; inclusion is important," a board member told Reuters, adding: "Companies need to stay the course of the agenda in terms of values and policies, and that's what we're doing."
"You want diverse opinions in the room and you want every opinion to have a similar weight. You want to move away from groupthink, especially when the pace of change is so rapid."
MONEY FLOWS
Investment in diversity is also unlikely to dry up because of Trump's moves, said bankers at Davos.
"For the investors of this world, ESG criteria – of which DEI is a part – are very important and will continue to be very important," said Bain & Company's Alexander Schmitz, who heads up the firm's Private Equity practice in EMEA.
"When I look at it from a higher level, the overarching, mega themes of ESG investing are still there: I haven't seen much rolling back of that as yet. If you are a private equity fund and start rolling back DEI strategies, then – among other effects – you will likely have a problem in fundraising and that's not where you want to be.”
Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan described diversity as having "commercial logic".
"There's going to be a lot of good, courageous conversations going on," Moynihan said. "Do we have the thoughtful balance right in companies and institutions ... Do we have the balance right that everybody feels included?"
The U.S. Department of Justice has ordered its civil rights division to pause any ongoing litigation left over from the administration of former President Joe Biden, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters on Wednesday.
The memo freezes any activity in the division, which is tasked with enforcing anti-discrimination laws. It directs the division to not pursue any new cases or agree to settlements and says the DOJ might revisit some settlements forged by the Biden administration in recent months.
That could potentially affect an agreement reached with Minneapolis earlier this month that imposes reforms on the city's police department. Federal investigators found a pattern of civil rights abuses there following the murder of a Black man, George Floyd, by police officers.
It also could impact police reforms in Louisville, where investigators found a pattern of discrimination against Black residents after the 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor. That agreement was announced in December.
The Biden administration had rushed to wrap up its police oversight work before President Donald Trump took office.
Trump has moved quickly since his inauguration on Jan. 20 to put his stamp on the federal government, launching a crackdown on immigration and taking steps to dismantle diversity programs in federal agencies. He has also pressured private companies to abandon efforts to diversify their workforces.
Trump's pick to lead the DOJ, Pam Bondi, has not yet been confirmed by the Senate. James McHenry, a longtime DOJ immigration attorney, is serving as acting attorney general in the meantime.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Within hours of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the new administration took down the Spanish-language version of the official White House website.
The site — currently https://www.whitehouse.gov/es/ — now gives users an “Error 404” message. It also included a “Go Home” button that directed viewers to a page featuring a video montage of Trump in his first term and on the campaign trail. The button was later updated to read “Go To Home Page”.
Hispanic advocacy groups and others expressed confusion at the abrupt change and frustration at what some called the administration’s lack of efforts to maintain communication with the Latino community, which helped propel him to the presidency.
The Spanish profile of the White House’ X, @LaCasaBlanca, and the government page on reproductive freedom also were disbanded. Meanwhile, the Spanish versions of other government agencies such as the Department of Labor, Justice and Agriculture remained available for users on Tuesday.
Asked about the changes, White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields responded Tuesday that the administration is “committed to bringing back online the Spanish translation section of the website.”
“It’s day two. We are in the process of developing, editing ,and tweaking the White House website. As part of this ongoing work, some of the archived content on the website went dormant. We are committed to reloading that content in a short timeline,” he said without elaborating.
Trump removed the Spanish version of the page in 2017. At that time, White House officials said they would reinstate it. President Joe Biden reinstated the page in 2021.
The page’s removal coincided with Trump’s first-day wave of executive orders highlighted by the launch of an illegal immigration crackdown that was one of his key campaign pledges. Trump on Monday declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and announced plans to send U.S. troops to help support immigration agents and restrict refugees and asylum.
According to 2023 Census Bureau estimates, about 43.4 million Americans — 13.7% of the U.S. population age 5 and older — speak Spanish at home. The U.S. has no official language.
Monica Rivera, a brand and communications strategist in New York City of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, said the shutdown sends a clear signal.
“There are 43 million Latinos who speak Spanish as their first language and removing access to information directly from the White House draws a distinct line as to who they are serving and more dangerously, signals to the administration’s MAGA base that we as Latinos are ‘other’ and a less significant part of this country,” Rivera said.
Anthony Hernandez, a paralegal in the nation’s capital, wasn’t initially aware of the move and said it suggests what the coming years of a second Trump presidency would look like, with specific issues making headlines while “minor but equally malicious things like that go unnoticed.”
“A move like shutting down the Spanish White House page and X profile serves no purpose other than to cut off resources for millions of Hispanic Americans and immigrants attempting to enter the United States legally,” Hernandez said. “And it’s a slap in the face to the millions of Hispanic voters that supported him in this recent election.”
Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is Cuban American and speaks Spanish. At his swearing-in Tuesday, he gave remarks in Spanish, thanking God, his family, and Trump.
Meanwhile, Hispanic leaders and communication strategy experts expressed surprise at the page’s removal, given Trump’s popularity with certain Latino voters.
“If the White House is seriously interested in engaging with Latinos, the second largest group in this country, then they need to make sure that updates can also be distributed in Spanish, a preferred language for millions in our community,” said Frankie Miranda President and CEO of the Hispanic Federation.
He called that a way to ensure “everyone is a part of the civic process.”
Kris Klein Hernández, a U.S. historian specializing in race, gender, and sexuality at Connecticut College, said the content removal from official White House websites not only limits the access available to Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens and migrants but leads “some to question which constituencies the administration prioritizes.”
Jeff Le, former deputy cabinet secretary and deputy director of external and international affairs for former California Gov. Jerry Brown, said the move seems counterintuitive given the opportunity to “showcase” policy changes, especially ones related to economics and border security.
“I didn’t see any other language mediums that got the kibosh. So I think that’s a really interesting thing to single out — if that’s the case,” Le said.
AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of more than 120,000 voters, found Trump won a larger share of Black and Latino voters than he did in 2020, and most notably among men under age 45. Young Latinos, particularly young Latino men, also were more open to Trump than in 2020. Roughly half of young Latino men voted for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, compared with about 6 in 10 who went for Biden.
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said Thursday the kingdom wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years, comments that came after President Donald Trump mused about returning to the kingdom as his first foreign trip.
The comments from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, reported early Thursday by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, came in a phone call with Trump.
“The crown prince affirmed the kingdom’s intention to broaden its investments and trade with the United States over the next four years, for $600 billion, and potentially beyond that,” the report said.
The readout did not elaborate on where those investments and trade could be placed. The U.S. in recent years has increasingly pulled away from relying on Saudi oil exports, which once was the bedrock of their relationship for decades. Saudi sovereign wealth funds have taken large stakes in American businesses while also looking at sports as well.
There was no immediate readout from the White House on the call. It also wasn’t immediately clear if Trump’s call with the crown prince was his first with a foreign leader since re-entering the White House. However, it was the first reported abroad.
The crown prince, the de facto ruler of the oil-rich kingdom, also spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio early Thursday.
On Monday after his inauguration, Trump talked about possibly heading to the kingdom again as his first foreign trip, like he did in 2017.
“The first foreign trip typically has been with the U.K. but ... I did it with Saudi Arabia last time because they agreed to buy $450 billion worth of our products,” Trump told journalists in the Oval Office. “If Saudi Arabia wanted to buy another $450 billion or $500 — we’ll up it for all the inflation — I think I’d probably go.”
The 2017 visit to the kingdom set in motion a yearslong boycott of Qatar by four Arab nations, including the kingdom.
