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Dr. Jay Varma fired from current job after COVID-era sex party admission
CBSN
NEW YORK — Former New York City COVID Czar Dr. Jay Varma has been fired from his current job after confirming reports he attended sex parties and a rave when the pandemic was at its peak.
Varma has been let go as executive vice president and chief medical officer at SIGA Technologies. The news of his dismissal was revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday.
Last week, Varma admitted to attending the parties after being caught on hidden camera video talking about it. They took place at a time when Varma was telling New Yorkers to stay away from others to stop the spread of COVID-19.
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Washington — A federal judge on Thursday allowed President Trump's efforts to shrink the federal workforce to continue moving forward while legal proceedings continue, declining a request from a group of labor unions to temporarily block his firing of federal employees and other actions targeting government workers.
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President Trump on Wednesday said he's considering using 20% of the savings from Elon Musk's cost-cutting task force, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to provide direct payments to taxpayers. But economists and policy experts across the political spectrum expressed skepticism about the feasibility of such a "DOGE dividend."
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How Clinton's "reinventing government" compares to DOGE's approach: "We cut fat and they cut muscle"
As President Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency push to slash spending, Republican allies have pointed to a White House program from 30 years ago as akin to DOGE's efforts.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the Pentagon to come up with plans to cut 8% from the defense budget in each of the next five years, according to sources familiar with his plans. The Defense Departmen expects to redirect those fund to other programs in the department that would be prioritized by President Trump.