WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday said he does not want “good people” to be cut from the federal workforce and is empowering his Cabinet secretaries to take the lead in assessing their personnel, seemingly adding a new nuance to his wide-scale government downsizing effort led by billionaire Elon Musk. 

What You Need To Know

  • President Donald Trump on Thursday said he does not want “good people” to be cut from the federal workforce and is empowering his Cabinet secretaries to take the lead in assessing their personnel, seemingly adding a new nuance to his wide-scale government downsizing effort led by billionaire Elon Musk 
  • “I want the Cabinet members to keep the good people and the people that aren't doing a good job, that are unreliable, don't show up to work, etc., those people can be cut,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “So I had a meeting, and I said, ‘I want the Cabinet members – go first, keep all the people you want, everybody that you need'"
  • “And if they can cut, it's better,” Trump continued, appearing to be referring to his agency heads. “And if they don't cut, then Elon will do the cutting"
  • The president’s comments followed a meeting he convened earlier in the day with most of his Cabinet, as well as Musk, in which he tasked his secretaries to work more closely with the DOGE campaign, he noted in a post on Truth Social

“I want the Cabinet members to keep the good people, and the people that aren't doing a good job, that are unreliable, don't show up to work, etc., those people can be cut,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “So I had a meeting, and I said, ‘I want the Cabinet members — go first, keep all the people you want, everybody that you need.’”

He went on to say that Musk and his team, branded the U.S. DOGE Service, are “going to be watching them.” 

“And if they can cut, it's better,” Trump continued, appearing to be referring to his agency heads. “And if they don't cut, then Elon will do the cutting.” 

The president’s comments, which came at an unrelated Oval Office executive order signing Thursday afternoon, followed a meeting he convened earlier in the day with most of his Cabinet, as well as Musk, in which he tasked his secretaries to work more closely with the DOGE campaign, he noted in a post on Truth Social. 

As part of the new coordination, Trump said in his post that he will make the meeting he held Thursday biweekly until the staff cutting effort by DOGE is completed. Such an effort will allow his Cabinet heads to be “very precise as to who will remain, and who will go,” taking the approach of using a “‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet.’” 

“I think most important for today: I want the Cabinet members to keep good people,” Trump later added in the Oval Office. “I don't want to see a big cut where a lot of good people are cut.” 

Giving agency heads more of a hand in DOGE efforts and particularly the request for use of a “scalpel” as opposed to a “hatchet” could be an added layer of prudence to a downsizing campaign that has thus far been wide-spread and fast moving, with thousands of federal government employees being laid off. In some cases, the administration has had to look to rehire fired employees. 

At the same time, Trump promptly pushed back on an inquiry about whether he thought Musk was moving too quickly with DOGE, telling reporters his team has done an “amazing job.”

“We want to get rid of the people that aren't working, that aren't showing up and have a lot of problems, and so they're working together with Elon, and I think we're doing a really great job,” Trump said. “We're cutting it down. We have to, for the sake of our country.”