Judge clears way for Trump to pull thousands of USAID staff off job

Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the US Agency for International Development, or USAID, in Washington. Picture: Jose Luis Magana/AP

A US judge has cleared the way for the Trump administration to pull thousands of US Agency for International Development workers off the job.

US district judge Carl Nichols removed his temporary block on the effort to remove all but a small fraction of USAID staffers from their posts and give those abroad a 30-day deadline to move back to the US at government expense.