ALI ROGIN: Good evening.

I'm Ali Rogin.

John Yang is away.

Two courts have set back the Trump administration's plans to shrink the federal workforce and reshape the U.S. government.

This morning, a federal judge temporarily blocked Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive Treasury Department records, including Social Security numbers and bank accounts of millions of Americans.

That came after another judge paused until next Friday the administration's plan to place more than 2,000 employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development on paid leave.

It's a setback in President Trump's efforts to dismantle the global humanitarian agency, which the president says is engaged in unspecified fraud and corruption.

One of the two federal employee organizations that sued to halt the administration's plans is the American Foreign Service Association, whose members primarily work abroad.

Randy Chester is its vice president for USAID.

Randy, thank you so much for being here.

We know that some employees have all employees at USAID got emails saying you should be able to access the system.

Again, have access to emails and everything you need to do your job.

But sources I've been speaking with say that they still cannot log into the system and they have no access.

Where do things stand, as you're aware?

And are the people running what remains of USAID right now?

Are they complying with this court order?

RANDY CHESTER, Vice President, AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION: Well, so far, like you say, Ali, what I'm hearing is the same that people are writing in to me saying they still don't have access to their systems and the public facing website now is completely dark.

So I'm not sure they easily flip the switch and cut people's services off.

You'd think they could flip the same switch and turn services back on for us.

ALI ROGIN: And you're going to have another hearing on February 12.

What is that one?

What are you hoping to get out of that one?

And what happens between now and then?

RANDY CHESTER: It's a good question.

I think on the 12th, our team of lawyers will be presenting additional evidence and arguments to make the temporary restraining order permanent.

In return, take away the threat of being placed on administrative leave and for our colleagues overseas, take away the threat of them having to return without proper planning, without knowing what or where they're going to be doing.

So I think the point of the hearing on Wednesday is to just do that, get the judge to say this must stop and it's going to stop now.

And let's move on.

Let's start really doing the business of the federal government and what we do day in and day out and that serve the public of America.

ALI ROGIN: So speaking of the business of the federal government, this temporary restraining order is in place now.

There is also though the Stop Work order that went into effect.

So, so even if USAID officials have access to the systems, again, they're not being placed on leave.

Are they going to be able to do their jobs?

RANDY CHESTER: It is a problem and it is a big problem because the Stop Work Order is not just affecting what we do as individual Foreign service officers.

It's limiting and stopping all work we do overseas.

Humanitarian assistance has stopped effectively.

Our work promoting women and girls development, economic development opportunities for women and girls, our work supporting immunization programs has stopped.

These programs are vital not just for the countries we work in, but they're vital for Americans as well.

ALI ROGIN: So tell me about how your officers who are abroad are dealing with this.

How are they?

What are they telling you right now about what it's like in the field?

RANDY CHESTER: In the field, there's no work going on.

But the way that this is impacting our officers is tremendously stressful.

It's harming them personally as individuals, and it's hurting their families.

I was on the phone earlier last week with a colleague, and in the background, her child was crying because she had just told her that they may have to leave where they've been living the last year and come home to America, to an uncertain future.

ALI ROGIN: We've seen the efforts to literally remove USAID presence here in Washington.

If these court orders do what you hope they do, ultimately, is there a way to reverse what has already been done?

Or in your view, is the mission that these Foreign Service officers serving irreparably altered?

RANDY CHESTER: It'll be a new environment for sure.

I mean, you've probably seen the reports and maybe you've seen the building.

They took our name off the Ronald Reagan building yesterday.

And that is a obvious sign of what the administration wants to do with USAID.

Hopefully, we can work with the State Department, who we work with all the time, in coming up with a plan forward for what the U.S. policy for international development is and how USAID is a part of that going forward.

Where we work doesn't necessarily matter to us.

It's the work that matters.

And that's what we want to see preserved, is a U.S. presence overseas doing vital development projects that promote ties, promote friendship, promote businesses, and promote economic linkages and market development for Americans to tackle, to tap into overseas.

ALI ROGIN: What do you want Americans to know about USAID as this agency has become such a topic of conversation lately?

RANDY CHESTER: Well, I think it's important for Americans to know that Foreign Service officers are Americans.

We're patriots, first and foremost.

Most of us were born in America.

We come from small towns in Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Minnesota, Iowa.

I mean, we are America.

And what we do is we represent you overseas.

And that's what I think people don't know, is that we're really doing this on behalf of you and making these friendships and making these linkages and making the world a safe place and making the world a prosperous place.

And that benefits everyone in America, no matter where you live.

ALI ROGIN: Randy Chester, USAID representative for the American Foreign Service association, thank you so much for being here.

RANDY CHESTER: Thank you.