Trump power play triggers showdown with courts, Congress

by Frankie TAGGART
With his dizzying moves to slash spending, abolish government departments and lay off much of the federal workforce, Donald Trump has upended the US constitutional order in an unprecedented assertion of executive might.
Critics complain that Congress has been slow to react in the face of a full frontal assault on the Founders’ vision of the separation of powers — but warn that the Republican president is on a collision course with the courts.
In his first two weeks, Trump has set in motion the abolition of a giant government humanitarian agency that experts say can only legally be dismantled by Congress and has tried to freeze trillions of dollars in spending mandated by lawmakers.
He has removed agency watchdogs and summarily fired FBI leaders and federal prosecutors who investigated his efforts to overturn the 2020 election that culminated in a deadly riot at the US Capitol.
The CIA became the first major national security agency to offer buyouts to its workforce this week, as thousands of federal workers were told to accept resignation deals by Thursday or face the boot.
Opponents say Trump allowed Elon Musk — the world’s richest man and a major government contractor — to break the law by accessing US Treasury payment systems that send out trillions of dollars and hold a welter of sensitive personal data.