U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday blamed Democrats for his decision to dismiss thousands of federal employees nationwide, following through on his threat to slash the government workforce amid the shutdown.

Job cuts were underway at the Treasury Department, the U.S. health agency, the Internal Revenue Service and the departments of education, commerce, and Homeland Security’s cybersecurity division, spokespeople said, but the total extent of the layoffs was not immediately clear. Roughly 300,000 federal civilian workers had already been set to leave their jobs this year due to a downsizing campaign initiated earlier this year by Trump.

“They started this thing,” Trump told reporters during an event in the Oval Office, calling the job cuts “Democrat-oriented.”

Trump’s Republicans

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