White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told CNN host Brianna Keilar point-blank Tuesday that the network’s panicking over large government cuts is widely out of touch with the American people.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) reported Monday that it has saved the federal government an estimated $55 million by cutting the sizes of federal agencies with the intent of eliminating the government’s wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars. During a CNN interview, Keilar attempted to frame the temporary firing of 300 probationary employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) as a “mistake,” leading to pushback from Miller.
“I wouldn’t use the term mistake. I would say that it’s pretty standard when you’re downsizing [the] government, you make cuts, you assess those cuts, you see who needs to be rehired and who needs to be kept, who needs to be reevaluated. These are all normal things. I understand that even a temporary interruption in federal employment is a great crisis and catastrophe for you and for CNN. What the American people see is a government that is finally delivering a promise of accountability under President Trump,” Miller said.
WATCH:
A spokesperson at the Department of Energy, which oversees the employment of those at the NNSA, said fewer than 50 people with administrative or clerical roles had been fired. Some staffers who were reportedly laid off were told to come back to their jobs on Friday night.
Keilar then asked Miller if President Donald Trump’s administration understands who they are firing from federal agencies, accusing them of eliminating deployed military members and veterans from the workforce. The White House adviser said the mass layoffs and government budget cuts are benefitting the American people who have watched their hard-earned tax dollars “be corruptly spent, abused [and] wasted.”
“Of course we understand who’s in the federal workforce and I’m happy to indulge all of these very histrionic questions about anyone who may or may not be fired,” Miller said. “But I think … the U.S. government has $36 trillion in debt, the interest payments on the debt exceed the national defense budget. The American people are exhausted and tired of watching their tax dollars be corruptly spent, abused, wasted and every cent robbed and stolen from them. This president, for the first time in history, is committed to restoring accountability at every level of the federal government. You may assert there’s no waste in the Pentagon. You may assert there’s no waste in treasury, you may assert there’s no waste in HHS.”
“I’m not asserting that, Stephen,” Keilar said.
“Then why are you not celebrating these cuts?” Miller fired back. “If you agree there’s waste, if you agree there is abuse, if you agree there is corruption, why are you not celebrating the cuts, the reforms that are being instituted? … You may not care about this issue. Your colleagues may not care about this issue. But we care about this issue, the American people care about this issue and the American public overwhelmingly supports what President Trump is doing.”
DOGE dismantled the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID) on Feb. 3 after discovering the agency had spent billions of taxpayer dollars on funding sex changes in Guatemala, sent 65.5 million condoms, 9.8 million injectable birth control products and 334,000 IUDs abroad in fiscal year 2022 and gave out $68 billion in foreign aid in 2023. The administration fired four officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) following the discovery that the agency handed out $59 million to house illegal migrants in luxury hotels in New York City.
The Trump administration is currently placing several government employees on paid leave as part of its efforts to reduce the size of federal agencies. By the end of former President Joe Biden’s administration, there were roughly 23.5 million local, state and federal government employees. The federal government employed over 3 million people in November 2024, standing close to its peak of 3.4 million employees in May 1994.
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