“This shutdown is different from earlier ones because Donald Trump and Russ Vought and all of their cronies are using this moment to terrorize these patriotic federal employees,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., standing with federal workers Tuesday outside the White House budget office.

Van Hollen said it’s “a big fat lie” when Trump and his budget director say the shutdown is making them fire federal workers. “It is also illegal and we will see them in court,” he said.

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