A federal judge said Friday he intends to temporarily block the Trump administration’s plan to place thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on leave at midnight.

Unions representing government employees sued to stop the shutdown of agency operations and restart the flow of foreign aid frozen by President Trump, who has accused the agency of fraud and corruption to justify its imminent shuttering.

Judge Carl Nichols, appointed by Trump during his first term, said he would issue a formal order later Friday but that a “limited, very limited” order temporarily pausing the plan would be handed down.

“They should not put those 2,200 people on administrative leave tonight,” Nichols said.

The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) and American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) called the Trump administration’s effort an “ongoing, illegal scheme to gut” the agency in court filings, contending that USAID employees would face imminent injury if the court did not immediately move to halt the plan.

“This is not something the president can unilaterally do,” Karla Gilbride, an attorney representing the unions, told the judge during a hearing Friday.

Trump and his allies, namely Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), launched an all out assault against the agency over the weekend,........

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