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."
When asked if he wants the Department of Education closed, Trump responded emphatically, "oh, I’d like it to be closed immediately."
"Look, the Department of Education's a big con job," he added, arguing that he wants to break up the department in sections among the states and criticizing employees for working remotely or working multiple jobs.
In the Oval Office, Trump was asked if he opposes NATO membership for Ukraine, to which he replied that he doesn't think it is "practical to have it."
"I know that a new secretary of defense who's excellent, Pete, made a statement today saying that he thinks it's unlikely or impractical. I think probably that's true," Trump continued.
"They've been saying that for a long time that Ukraine cannot go into NATO, and I'm OK with that," he said, expressing his desire for the war to end "whether they are or they're not" part of NATO.
When asked if the United States is no longer sending aid to Ukraine, Trump responded, "No, we are, but we want it secured and the money is going to be secured."
The president was pressed on when the U.S. could cease sending assistance to Ukraine, to which he replied, "We'll go as long as we have to go because we're not going to let the other happen."
He also noted that if the U.S. did not send aid, "then Putin would say he won," before touting that Putin wants peace now under his administration.
When asked about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's remarks earlier Wednesday claiming it is "unrealistic" for Ukraine to regain its pre-2014 borders, Trump said, "It certainly would seem to be unlikely."
He clarified that he's "not making an opinion of it, but [he’s] read a lot on it and a lot of people think that that's unlikely."
"I think some of it will come back," he continued. "Yeah, some of that land will come back."
