Trump reveals which federal employees will be fired next after 1,300 education staff slashed

President Donald Trump gave a poor performance evaluation to the 1,300 Education Department being laid off, after the federal agency shuttered its doors Wednesday.

'I feel very badly, but many of them don't work at all,' Trump said.

'Many of them don't work at all. Many of them never showed up to work. Many of them never showed up to work,' he claimed, without substantiating his claim that half the workforce was AWOL. 

The department announced Tuesday evening it was slashing its workforce by nearly 50 percent through a Reduction in Force – although an Education Department release on the firings did not mention anything about poor performance.

Both Trump and billionaire Elon Musk have claimed there are employees on the payroll who don't work.

'And unfortunately, when we cut, you know, we go, that's what I have a number of meetings with a lot of people over the last couple of months. When we cut, we want to cut, but we want to cut the people that aren't working or not doing a good job,' Trump said.

'We're keeping the best people. And Linda McMahon is a real professional, very, actually, very sophisticated business person,' Trump said of his Secretary of Education, a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive.

'She cut a large number, but she kept the best people, and we'll see how it all works out. But our country was run very badly, whether it was that or contracts that we signed that was so bad, so obviously bad. And I go through them in speeches. I could go through them all day long,' he said.

'I could read for billions and hundreds of millions of dollars, and all of that fact and waste and fraud and abuse is being taken out.'

Trump said the employees were 'not showing up,' in a possible reference to telework arrangements, although he has ordered all agencies to end them and bring workers back to the office. 

'They're number one, not showing up to work. Number two, they're not doing a good job.'

As he has in the past, Trump pointed to Scandanavia as an inspiration.

'And you have Norway, you have Denmark, you have Sweden, you have various – Finland – you have various countries that do very well. You also have China that does very well in education, which is a pretty big tribute to China,' Trump said.

'So we think when you move it back to Iowa and Indiana and all the states that run so well, there's some that I could name: 30, maybe almost 40. Those will be as good as Denmark, those will be as good as Norway. And they'll be as good as any of these,' he said.

An Education Department release did not state anything about poor performance of those being fired.

It said 259 employees accepted a Deferred Resignation Program offered as part of a DOGE-led effort and 3134 took a voluntary separation incentive. 

'Pursuant to regulatory requirements and the Department’s collective bargaining agreement, all impacted employees will receive full pay and benefits until June 9th, as well as substantial severance pay or retirement benefits based upon their length of service,' it said. 

'All divisions within the Department are impacted by the reduction, with some divisions requiring significant reorganization to better serve students, parents, educators, and taxpayers.'

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt got asked Wednesday to provide assurances that critical services like aid and supports for disabled children won't get cut amid the 50 percent reduction in staff.

'Yes, the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, who is doing a tremendous job, by the way, has assured the American people of that. And these cuts are a promise made and a promise kept,' she said, putting the assurance on McMahon.

'There is no reason that we should be spending more than most developed countries in the world. And our education system is failing. If you look at our Nation's Report Card, eighth graders are not reading at the rate that they should. Fourth graders are not learning math at the rate that they should. And so we have a problem with our education system.'

She appeared to be referencing the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) standardized test, which is funded by the Education Department. 

Agency employees are bering put on administrative leave March 21.