EXCLUSIVE — President Donald Trump plans to host another convening of his Cabinet Monday, as the administration continues to barrel toward significant cuts to the federal workforce.
White House and senior administration officials confirmed plans for the meeting to the Washington Examiner Friday morning. One senior White House official noted that Trump had previously planned to convene the Cabinet every two weeks.
It’s unclear what Trump and his Cabinet will discuss. However, the meeting will come just days after the president signed an executive order to dismantle the Education Department and reports that the administration is planning another round of layoffs. Both of Trump’s previous Cabinet meetings, the first on Feb. 26 and the second on March 6, made significant waves for very different reasons.
The first event saw the president, Cabinet officials, and Elon Musk, who is not a Cabinet member but de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency, field questions from reporters on DOGE’s efforts to trim federal spending and payrolls and other topics for roughly an hour.
Trump and the Cabinet steadfastly backed Musk, with the president declaring that millions of federal employees not cooperating with DOGE’s directives were on the firing “bubble.”
However, the second meeting, which occurred behind closed doors, featured Musk entering into heated arguments with Cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, about DOGE’s authority, according to the New York Times.
Trump ultimately ruled that his department secretaries retain hiring and firing responsibilities. White House officials did not say if Musk would attend Monday’s meeting.
“I want the Cabinet members to go first, keep all the people you want. Everybody that you need,” the president told reporters on March 7. “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.’ The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level.”
Last week, every federal department and agency was required to submit a “reduction in force” plan to the White House, but senior administration officials remain vague about when specifically those cuts to the federal workforce will be enacted.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed at the time that the cuts would “streamline our broken bureaucracy, save taxpayers millions of dollars, and make the government more efficient for all.”
Reuters reported Friday morning that the White House, led by the Office of Management and Budget, has begun reviewing the received RIF plans alongside DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management.
THOUSANDS OF FIRED FEDERAL WORKERS REINSTATED BUT NOT BACK TO WORK
Musk is reportedly not personally reviewing all of the plans but is being “kept abreast” of top-line developments, and the president is not directly involved, according to the outlet.
Though no deadline has been set, the White House has suggested it wants to conclude the firings by September. Multiple departments and agencies will be expected to deliver monthly updates on implementation to the White House.
