Justin Fox reports that connected with him before he started work at DOGE. Besides Armstrong, Justin Fox was also communicating with other DOGE members via Signal both in group chats and individually. This appears to be a violation of government records laws for those other staffers who were already working in the federal government. (fuzz: Exact date not given, but he testifies that Anthony Armstrong reached out just after inauguration)

Immediately after the removal of the agency’s chair by the Trump administration, DOGE staffers Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox contact NEH IT for access to key systems and arrive at the agency.

Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox gain access to the system at NEH for approving and administering grants. Justin Fox proceeds to look for grant descriptions containing words like “black,” “LGBTQ,” “Jew,” “Native,” and “immigrant” to eliminate for promoting DEI. He organized grants into a “Craziest Grants” and “Other Bad Grants” list, presumably for DOGE or the administration to use for promotional purposes. He also started asking ChatGPT to answer yes or no if individual grants “relate at all to DEI” and using that to mark grants for deletion without any further review. (fuzz: date only given as a few days prior to termination)

DOGE staff reportedly visit the Wilson Center for Scholars headquarters. In other reporting, the New York Times had identified Justin Fox as part of this delegation.

Justin Fox sends a letter to the acting head of the NEH, Michael McDonald, expressing frustration that the agency is not moving quickly enough to terminate grants. In his letter, he writes “We’re getting pressure from the top on this and we’d prefer that you remain on our side but let us know if you’re no longer interested.”

NEH staff members are informed that DOGE is seeking a 70-80% reduction in staff and a cancellation of any grants made under the Biden administration that were not already fully disbursed.

In a response to Justin Fox asking about cuts, NEH Chairman Michael McDonald advocates for not cutting some proposed grants, but notes: “But you have also told us that in addition to canceling projects because they may promote DEI ideology, the DOGE Team also wishes to cancel funding to assist deficit reduction. Either way, as you’ve made clear, it’s your decision on whether to discontinue funding any of the projects on this list.”

Approximately 1500 grantees receive grant cancellation emails sent from a nonstandard email address and bypassing the normal grant review process. The domain for the email address Grant_Notifications@nehemail.onmicrosoft.com suggests it was sent from a global admin account for Microsoft Entra, an access-control system used at the agency. The Acting Director of the NEH seems unaware of the messages. The content of the message cites an incorrect executive order as its justification, suggesting it was copied from an earlier email that was sent to IAF and USADF grantees after their DOGE takeover.

145 NEH staff members (approximately 80% of workforce) are abruptly placed on administrative leave and locked out of system access. The remaining employees are pressured by Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox to formally conduct a Reduction-in-Force (RIF) as quickly as possible

Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox begin holding a series of meetings with MCC leadership. Following the DOGE pattern for small independent agencies, this process eventually culminates in termination of all grants and mass layoffs. (fuzz: exact date not given, just in “last two weeks”)

Justin Fox and Nate Cavanaugh are reportedly detailed from the GSA to work at the NLRB over the next few months.

Staff at the Millennium Challenge Corporation are informed that DOGE has directed the termination of all grants and the reduction of the staff from 320 to a few dozen.

Nate Cavanaugh sends an email to the two remaining members of the CPB board requesting a meeting. He describes a DOGE team at GSA and cc’s several other members of DOGE

Justin Fox emails GAO (cc’ing Nate Cavanaugh) to schedule a call to get a DOGE team assigned to the GAO. This is despite the GAO being located in the legislative branch and thus not answerable to the President.

In an overview of how DOGE has tried to assign teams outside of the executive branch, NPR lists six DOGE staffers at GSA who are involved with those efforts.

Justin Fox sends a message to the Acting Chair of NEH stating “Ringing to give you a heads-up that the DOGE team is planning to make an X post on NEH highlighting a few of the crazy DEI grants from Biden-era administration and reiterating that NEH grants going forward will be merit-based and awarded to nonDEI, pro-America causes”

Multiple DOGE staff are listed in the invite for a new meeting for political appointees at the agency which will be held once every two weeks. (fuzz: Jeremy Lewin is a Deputy Undersecretary at State, but still a GSA employee?)

Justin Fox testifies in a deposition related to American Council of Learned Societies v. NEH. He states he has no access to NEH or GSA equipment and that all of the communications related to mass terminations at NEH were done on his GSA laptop. He also admits to communicating with DOGE staffers before and after hiring on Signal. He states that Anythony Armstrong specifically used Signal to send him messages related to DOGE leadership priorities, and that Anthony Armstrong was very focused about using Signal.

Ruling in American Council of Learned Societies/Authors Guild v. NEH, Judge Colleen McMahon rejects an argument by the government that a spreadsheet listing all of the DOGE staff and their positions and detailing arrangement must remain sealed for their personal safety. She orders them and a series of text messages made by DOGE staffers Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox must be entered into the record by February 17th.