Stunning number of federal workers taking Trump's buyout offer revealed: Live updates

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

65,000 federal workers have now opted to take President Trump’s ‘buyout’ deal even as a federal judge delayed the deadline to take the offer.

An official familiar with the matter shared the latest figure as of Friday with DailyMail.com and signaled it is still growing.

That’s up from the 40,000 workers who were said to have taken the deal as of Wednesday ahead of the midnight deadline on Thursday night, but it's a far cry from the administration's goal.

A federal judge temporarily blocked the February 6 deadline to take the so-called ‘Fork in the Road’ offer Thursday afternoon after the AFGE union representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers and other groups sued.

Another hearing is set for Monday to hear further arguments on the issue.

Even with 65,000 workers taking the deal so far, it is still just over 3 precent of the two million federal workers being given the offer.

Elon Musk’s DOGE had estimated between five and 10 percent of government workers would take the offer and that it would save an estimated $100 billion a year.

The offer as presented by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) gave all federal workers the option to resign from their current position but remain on the payroll with all benefits until September 30.

The email gave notice that most federal employees were to return to work at offices five days a week. For those who took the offer, they would be exempted from in-person work requirements.

It comes as Musk and DOGE look to slash $2 trillion in federal spending and have taken an axe to numerous agencies and programs.

But some federal workers, experts and lawmakers warned that the Trump administration might not honor the 'buyout' deal or guarantee pay through for end of September.

Democrats have also accused the president and Musk of trying to oust career employees to replace them with Trump loyalists across the federal government.

By Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent

Elon Musk gracing the cover of Time Magazine could spell disaster for the DOGE-running tech billionaire.

Time's latest issue shows Musk sitting behind the Resolute Desk - where President Donald Trump should be positioned in the Oval Office.

'No,' Trump first responded in the Oval Office Friday alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba when asked if he had a reaction to Musk's cover. 'Is Time Magazine still in business? I didn't even know that,' he then sarcastically replied.

Trump had touted being named Time's Person of the Year last year.

'Elon is doing a great job. He's finding tremendous fraud and corruption and waste,' the president added. 'He's got a staff that's fantastic. He's wanted to do this for a long time.'

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

MAGA favorite Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene signaled she could have ambitions to run for higher office as President Donald Trump loyalists move to lock in control in Washington.

The Georgia congresswoman and close ally of the president sat down for a taping of the 'Politically Georgia' podcast where she was asked about her future plans.

The far-right politician acknowledged she is thinking about challenging Democratic Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff who is up for reelection next year in the battleground state.

She is also considering a bid for governor as current Republican Governor Brian Kemp is term limited.

'Of course I’m considering all possibilities. No decisions have been made, but I would be telling a lie if I didn’t say I wasn’t considering it,' Taylor Greene said when asked about both options.

The congresswoman made a national name for herself as a member of the MAGA movement for her disruptive approach in Washington.

DOGE head Elon Musk is conducting an online poll about whether his 25-year-old aide who resigned after his posts in favor of eugenics should be given another chance.

Musk's online poll came hours after Marko Elez, the aide who was fighting to gain access to a database with Treasury payments totalling trillions stepped down after his posts calling to 'normalize' Indian hate under a pseudonym were revealed. One bragged he was 'racist before it was cool.'

Musk, whose real and perceived influence has grown to the point that he is pictured on the cover of the latest Time Magazine seated behind the presidential Resolute Desk as if it was his, raised the issue in the form of a question.

President Donald Trump announced Friday he would act next week to sign an executive order ending plastic straw bans.

Trump has long mocked paper straws, arguing they are not effective.

President Donald Trump welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the White House for the first time Friday morning.

'I love Japan,' said Trump outside the entrance to the West Wing when a reporter asked what his message to the country was.

A senior Trump administration official told reporters the leaders would discuss military training exercises, increased cooperation on defense equipment and technology, foreign investment and energy.

In less than three weeks in office, the president has upended foreign relations by threatening trade wars and unveiling a plan to take ownership of the Gaza Strip.

But he has adopted a more conventional approach to the Indo-Pacific region when he wants to hold China in check.

Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter on Capitol Hill

A Republican is working to end the 'deep state' with a new law that would make it easier for Donald Trump to fire high-level officials who undermine his policies.

Congressman Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) introduced the 'End The Deep State Act' this week to further enforce a recent Trump executive order.

The order makes policy-influencing positions within the administration directly accountable to the president, and therefore, the American people.

Trump's administration implemented a similar policy during his first term, but it was undone by Joe Biden.

Biden then implemented a rule to make it more difficult for presidents to fire policy-influencing workers.

'This will give the president the latitude to simply hold people accountable,' Ogles told DailyMail.com.

'You can't embed yourself into the deep state, into the bureaucracy, and then simply serve as a detractor and a disruptor for the incoming administration.'

For years Republicans have decried what they call outsized power held by veteran federal bureaucrats working to advance their own objectives and not those of the president or elected officials.

GOP lawmakers and Trump have labeled these officials the 'deep state' which the president has vowed to 'obliterate,' 'demolish,' and, if still standing, 'destroy.'

'There is a level of employee within the federal government that's working against Americans, hard working Americans every single day, and they're untouchable,' Ogles said. 'This fixes that. This creates accountability.'

Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter on Capitol Hill

A group of Democratic lawmakers arrived at the Department of Education to demand a meeting with top agency officials.

However, the doors are locked and the lawmakers are now forced to stand out in the cold.

The department's headquarters are just down the street from the U.S. Capitol.

President Donald Trump signed a batch of executive orders Thursday to combat anti-Christian bias and condemn the ‘illegitimate and baseless’ charges against Benjamin Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court.

Trump's executive action regarding the ICC will add financial sanctions and travel restrictions against the organization's officials in response to the arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, which it issued in May 2024 as a result of the Israel-Hamas war.

The ICC is an international organization based in The Hague. It investigates and prosecutes those accused of war crimes, genocide and other crimes against humanity.

A furious Border Czar Tom Homan raged against an apparent intelligence leak that derailed a massive immigration raid on Tren de Aragua gang members in Colorado this week.

Homan announced he is 'dealing' with the source of the leak after the disruption when multiple federal agencies planned the action at multiple locations in Aurora, Colorado to rot out illegal migrants and gang members.

Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated Republican lawmakers will likely release their budget legislation over the weekend.

Johnson said Friday he and his team are 'very close' to getting the budget done.

He needs to get a congressional budget solidified before the GOP can pass any of Donald Trump's legislative agenda using the reconciliation process.

The speaker is working to compile many of Trump's favorite policies in a large bill that the House lawmakers hope to pass by May.

Approving a budget is just the first step in a long process expected to unfold over the next few months.

However as the clock ticks on and no budget framework is released, the Senate has begun compiling its own budget.

Attorney General Pam Bondi warned sanctuary cities they 'are going to be next' if local officials continue to harbor and protect illegal aliens over the safety of citizens.

Speaking with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Bondi, 59, shared how under her leadership the Justice Department sued the city of Chicago and its mayor Brandon Johnson earlier in the day over its progressive sanctuary policies.

'Not only did we sue today the city of Chicago, we sued the state of Illinois, we sued the mayor, we sued the governor, and we sued others,' she said.

Melania and Ivanka Trump used thousands of dollars from USAID to fund pet projects during Trump's first term it's been revealed as the agency's spending comes under scrutiny from the president.

The president has gone scorched-earth against the USAID this week, berating its use of tax-payer dollars and saying it had to be 'corrupt' in its spending.

But despite Donald's disdain for the aid agency, it has maintained close ties with his wife and daughter for years by investing in their government ventures.

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

President Trump's tax priorities have been revealed, but it's going to carry a hefty price tag unless major offsets are made.

Among the big priorities are no tax on tips, no tax on social security, no tax on overtime pay and renewing the tax cuts from the 2017 tax law.

Other priorities are adjusting the so-called SALT cap, eliminating tax breaks for sports team owners, closing the carried interest loophole and cuts for Made in America projects.

But the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that depending on how the proposals are written, the plan would reduce revenues by $5 trillion to more than $11 trillion over ten years.

It would also boost debt between 132 and 149 percent of GDP over a decade if not offset.

The biggest line item is extending the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which would reduce revenues by $3.9 trillion to $4.8 trillion over a decade.

Eliminating tax on tips would cast between $100 billion and $550 billion while eliminating tax on overtime would cost between $250 billion and $3 trillion depending on how it’s written.

Adjusting the SALT cap which restricts how much can be deducted in state and local taxes could cost up to $1.2 trillion.

Closing the carried interest loophole and tax breaks for billionaire sports owners would only boost revenues by $100 billion, a substantial sum, but not enough to make a massive dent in the overall drop in revenues.