Donald Trump Restrains Doge as Concern Mounts Over Scale of Job Losses

In a meeting at the White House on Thursday attended by secretaries of state and Musk, the president hinted the billionaire’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency may have been too indiscriminate in its mass firings of federal employees.

Trump posted on Truth Social soon after the meeting ended: “As the secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go. We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet’.”

Earlier this week, the Trump administration quietly clarified a directive that spurred the firings, stating that it was up to agencies to determine whether to dismiss employees.