At least six U.S. International Development employees, who spoke to journalists after they believe they have been fired by the Trump administration, have now received a notice from the Bureau of Foreign Aid's internal Human Resources Office and are facing an investigation into attending an interview.

The formal dismissal date for the formal dismissal date was postponed after leaders encountered bureaucratic obstacles, and an email was received in recent days with the words “Administrative Inquiry.” The email accused them of “interacting with the news/media without authorization” and threatened “discipline”, including “evacuation from the U.S. International Development Agency.”

These emails are sent by employment labour relations, part of the internal human resources structure of the U.S. Agency for International Development and manages most of the discipline and performance complaints.

"This is totally intimidating," said Randy Chester, vice president of the American Foreign Service Association, who said employees began receiving notifications on Monday. The union shared the email specifically with CBS.

“Federal employees don’t give up their constitutional rights when they work in public services,” said Abbe Lowell, an experienced attorney in Washington, D.C., last week, to launch his own company to protect public officials from retaliation. Lowell is known for his high-profile politicians representing Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Hunter Biden.

"This so-called 'query' doesn't seem to be about enforcing any rules, but trying to silence criticism," he said.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the agency that oversees the distribution of foreign aid – the person facing the sharp layoffs of the government’s Department of Efficiency, known as Doge, which is the force reduction effort supervised by Elon Musk. On February 2, Musk posted the following on X: "USA is a criminal organization. It's time to die."

To a large extent, Duger's workers were inserted into various federal agencies and continued to carry out large-scale reductions in force. February, Staff at USAID Receive notice that they will soon be unemployed. "All U.S.A.I.D. direct employees will be placed on global administrative leave," a February 4 agency notice said. A few days later, workers were told that the agency's headquarters was closed until further notice.

On February 18, President Trump delivered a speech: "We effectively eliminate the American international development agency."

At the end of the month, give employees 15 minutes to pack, many of whom believe are at the end of their career at the U.S.A.I.D.

But closing the agency is much harder than expected, with many seeing their firing dates gliding as their boss struggles to terminate them. In March, leaders of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) released a memorandum that said the vast majority of employees at the agency will officially lose their jobs on July 1 or September 2. Employees have been paid at the U.S. Development since February.

Later that month, the State Department informed Congress that it would “re-align U.S. Agency for International Development” by July 1.

This week, employees who spoke publicly about the firing between late February and early March, began receiving email newsletters, suggesting interviews during that period. The CBS News Review email requires employees to submit statements and answer a series of questions by May 13.

According to the email, “failure to comply with these instructions and provide statements upon request will constitute misconduct”, whose written statements will be “used to determine whether the misconduct occurred and the necessary measures (if any) to correct the act.”

Federal workers, including U.S. Agency employees, are prohibited from conducting media interviews without agency permission. According to Chester, U.S.A.I.D. employees were not asked to sign a separation agreement to prevent them from talking to members of the press.

In this case, many people who received notices about the employee termination date think they are out of work, Chester said. Others are willing to take risks.

He believes the notifications promote the “creepy effect” of those who have stories shared with the press or joining lawsuits against the government.

"It's an effort to get anyone else to talk to the press," he said in an interview with CBS News. "These notes are the urgent need for the government to hide its mistakes."

An investigation into possible employee misconduct often takes several months to resolve and involves multiple appeals. In most cases, employees are offered limited suspensions without pay if they are found to have committed misconduct.

"It's a total waste of time and government resources," Chester said. "It will cost their money to conduct these investigations, and the lawyers who investigated didn't even have a job when they were finished."

A State Department spokesperson responded to CBS' inquiry: "In general, we do not comment on internal personnel matters."