As the federal government shutdown heads into its second weekend,

the Trump administration has started what it says are substantial layoffs of federal workers.

The president and his team had suggested this would be coming,

but it was Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vote,

who made it official on social media this afternoon,

stating simply the riffs have begun.

For more on what agencies might be affected by this reduction in force,

we turn to our congressional correspondent, Lisa Desjardin.

Lisa, you have been working the phones all afternoon.

What have you learned?

Our whole team has.

Well, President Trump actually just spoke to reporters a few minutes ago,

and he said the layoffs, there will be a lot of them,

but that numbers will still be coming. We don't have the numbers yet. So there is a real question

here about how widespread these substantial riffs or layoffs are, as we've been told by the Office

of Management and Budget. Are they really large? Or is it that the administration wants to be perceived that way so that they can leverage and pressure Democrats among others?

One thing we do know a little bit about is where they are happening. From our calls and sourcing

today, we can report that these eight agencies will be seeing these mass layoffs.

This includes some large agencies like Department of Homeland Security, the Treasury,

and education.

Many of these did experience large staffing cuts either from the Doge retirement plan or from

previous layoffs.

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