White House says some employees were fired by mistake
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."
Latest headlines:
- Some employees who accepted buyout offer were fired by mistake: White House
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Rubio speaks with Russian foreign minister, just a day after Ukraine talks
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday, a day after he and Vice President J.D. Vance met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The call follows President Donald Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
"The Secretary re-affirmed President Trump’s commitment to finding an end to the conflict in Ukraine," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement. "In addition, they discussed the opportunity to potentially work together on a number of other bilateral issues."
Trump to consider value-added taxes in tariff plan
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
15K IRS employees identified for possible termination as early as next week
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
Trump says 3 hostages released, warns of deadline for all hostages
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