After taking the recent buyout offer, some employees were fired, a source said.
President Donald Trump's administration, including Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, is continuing its sweeping effort to cut much of the federal government -- but it's being met with legal challenges.
Trump is also making his second administration's first forays on the diplomatic front with calls to Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy on ending the 3-year-old war that began in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.
And a day after Hamas released more hostages taken when it attacked Israel in October 2023, Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the militant organization needs to be "eliminated."
Trump is seated in the Resolute Desk ahead of speaking to the press pool that covers the White House on Tuesday afternoon.
He is joined by Elon Musk and Musk's son.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a constitutional lawyer, again defended Elon Musk and DOGE, pushing back on court orders blocking the group's moves.
"I think the courts should take a step back and allow these processes to play out," Johnson said in a news conference Tuesday. "What we're doing is good and right for the American people. What DOGE is doing is making sure that your taxpayer dollars, all of us, are spent in the way that they're intended to be spent."
Several judges, including a Trump-appointed judge, have ruled against the administration and argued that its cuts, freezes and other orders may be unconstitutional.
Johnson added he agreed "wholeheartedly" with Vice President JD Vance, who posted this weekend that "judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power."
The speaker then went a step farther, saying he doesn’t feel other branches of government -- namely the legislative branch -- are getting steamrolled by DOGE, even though Trump and Musk have repeatedly limited the spending of congressionally appropriated dollars.
-ABC News' Lauren Peller, John Parkinson, Arthur Jones II and Jay O'Brien
Jordan says it will take in 2,000 sick Palestinian children from Gaza
When ABC News' Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked why Jordan should take in Palestinians, given that the King has rejected those calls, Trump put the King on the spot.
"But he may have just something to say because we discussed it just briefly. I think maybe you want to say it now," Trump said, turning to the King.
"I think we have to keep in mind that there is a plan from Egypt and the Arab countries. We're being invited by Mohammed bin Salman to discussions in Riyadh. I think the point is is, how do we make this good for everybody. Obviously, we have to look at the best interest of the United States, of the people in the region, especially to my people of Jordan, and we're going to have some interesting discussions today," Abdullah said.
He then announced plans to take in 2,000 children from Gaza, despite his previous rejection of Trump's calls for Palestinians to relocate to Jordan. But he wouldn't commit to anything beyond that.
"I think one of the things that we can do right away is take 2,000 children that are either cancer children or in a very ill state to Jordan as quickly as possible. And then wait for, I think the Egyptians to present their plan on how we can work with the president to work on a collage of challenges," Abdullah said.
-- ABC News' Mary Bruce, Molly Nagle, and Michelle Stoddart
In testimony on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell faced a barrage of questions about DOGE's access to millions of Americans' sensitive data at the Treasury Department -- and the shutdown of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Powell repeatedly emphasized that Americans' bank accounts -- and the government's payments system that processes checks like Social Security -- are "safe." But he said the closure of the CFPB means there is no federal regulator protecting consumers against deceptive practices at the biggest U.S. banks.
-- ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett and Elizabeth Schulze
