Trump’s Bonkers Shutdown Email Goes Out to Even More Federal Workers
Even more agency heads than we initially knew sent out Donald Trump’s wildly partisan message.

The copy-and-paste shutdown message broadcast by several executive branch agency chiefs earlier this week affected more parts of the government than previously understood.
Treasury Department employees and workers at the IRS also received near mirror images of the ethics-violating directive, according to an internal email shared with The New Republic.
The email, headed, “Planning for Potential Lapse in Funding,” issued guidance for Treasury Department workers on the eve of the government shutdown, including staff furloughs and continued work plans. But it also overtly blames the shutdown on Democrats, in apparent violation of the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch.
It was signed by the assistant secretary for management at the Treasury, John York, a former policy analyst for the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation.
“President Trump opposes a government shutdown, and strongly supports the enactment of H.R. 5371, which is a clean Continuing Resolution to fund the government through November 21, and already passed the U.S. House of Representatives,” the email reads. “Unfortunately, Democrats are blocking this Continuing Resolution in the U.S. Senate due to unrelated policy demands. If Congressional Democrats maintain their current posture and refuse to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded before midnight on September 30, 2025, federal appropriated funding will lapse.
“A funding lapse will result in certain government activities ceasing due to a lack of appropriated funding,” it continues. “In addition, designated pre-notified employees of this agency would be temporarily furloughed. P.L. 116-1 (which provides for furloughed employees to be paid for the period of furlough at their normal rate of pay once appropriations are restored) would apply.
So far, 1,736 Treasury Department employees have been furloughed, according to The New York Times’ shutdown monitor. Until Congress passes a resolution to continue funding the government, the agency will not issue regulations or guidance. The IRS will continue to operate for the first five business days of the shutdown.
“The agency has contingency plans in place for executing an orderly shutdown of activities that would be affected by any lapse in appropriations forced by Congressional Democrats. Further information about those plans will be distributed should a lapse occur,” the email says.
Employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Social Security Administration received a similar message.
Ethics experts have argued that the message could also be in violation of the Hatch Act, which is designed to limit partisan messaging from federal employees.
York was caught in another internal email drama earlier this year when he issued an OPM-related memo from the official “Treasury Secretary” inbox, failing to sign as the assistant secretary for management while apparently filling the shoes of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.