White House says some employees were fired by mistake

President Donald Trump said he'll consider value-added taxes as part of his reciprocal tariff plan.

"We will consider Countries that use the VAT System, which is far more punitive than a Tariff, to be similar to that of a Tariff," Trump posting on Truth Social.

VATs are used in Europe as taxes that are imposed on goods at each stage of production. It's different from a sales tax in the United States, which is imposed on the final sale of the good. In Europe, the VAT rate depends on the country, but on average, it's about about 20%.

-ABC News' Selina Wang and Hannah Demissie

About 15,000 IRS employees have been identified for possible termination as early as next week as the White House seeks to find cost savings across the government, ABC News has learned.

The employees are on probationary status with limited tenure in their jobs and do not have jobs directly related to processing tax filings, a person familiar with the effort told ABC News.

It's not clear, however, what impact the firings might have on this year's tax season as much of the work at the IRS is connected to the agency's mission of processing and enforcing payments.

A Department of Government Efficiency employee arrived at the IRS' headquarters on Thursday asking about the agency’s technology and how audits are done.

The IRS did not respond to a request for comment.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty

President Donald Trump issued another warning about his noon deadline for the release of all hostages with no indication from the Israeli side that they will call off the ceasefire agreement.

In a post on his social media platform this morning, Trump said that Hamas has released three hostages, including an American citizen.

"Hamas has just released three Hostages from GAZA, including an American Citizen. They seem to be in good shape! This differs from their statement last week that they would not release any Hostages. Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES. The United States will back the decision they make!" Trump wrote.

Trump suggested earlier this week that if Hamas did not release all hostages by noon on Saturday, Israel should call off the ceasefire deal.

-ABC News' Victoria Beaule and Hannah Demissie

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued a temporary restraining order Friday afternoon, in effect holding off on the mass firing of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees, if the order is followed, until March 3. Employees could still be fired individually for cause.

The ruling also ordered acting Director Russell Vought not to "delete, destroy, remove or impair any data, database or other CFPB records; terminate any CFPB employee, except for cause related to the specific employee's performance or conduct; issue any notice of reduction-in-force to any CFPB employee; or transfer, relinquish, or return any money from the CFPB's reserve funds."

-ABC News' Soo Youn