Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought said Wednesday the Trump administration could ultimately lay off more than 10,000 federal employees during the government shutdown.
Vought said during an appearance on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which was broadcast Wednesday from the White House, that initial court documents that showed roughly 4,000 employees had been laid off were just a “snapshot.”
“We’re going to keep those [reductions in force] rolling throughout the shutdown, because we think it’s important to stay on offense for the American taxpayer,” Vought said.
“I think we’ll probably end up being north of 10,000,” he said when pressed on how many people might be laid off.
Court documents filed by the Justice Department last Friday showed the administration laid off more than 4,100 employees as part of reductions in force (RIFs) President Trump and Vought had threatened.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston had ordered the administration to hand over the information in a lawsuit government unions filed just before the shutdown began.
Illston said in a Wednesday hearing taking place while Vought spoke that she was likely to temporarily block the layoffs, rebuking the administration.
The layoffs affected employees across various government agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, the Education Department and more. The most significant layoffs took place at the Treasury Department, with 1,446 employees receiving RIF notices Friday.
Thousands of government employees left their jobs earlier this year as part of efforts led by the Department of Government Efficiency to slash the size of the federal government.
“We want to be very aggressive where we can be in shuttering the bureaucracy, not just the funding,” Vought said Wednesday.
Vought, Vice President Vance and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared on “The Charlie Kirk Show” from the White House complex. The show has continued to broadcast after the killing of the late conservative activist, who was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Tuesday.
