WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation’s largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection — potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.

Nearly 1,300 probationary employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are being forced out under the Trump administration's move to get rid of all probationary employees, the Associated Press reported on Friday,

The buyout is one of many approaches Trump is taking to slash a civilian workforce of 2.3 million that he has blasted as ineffective and biased against him.

President Donald Trump and DOGE head Elon Musk cut thousands of probationary positions after only 3.3% of federal workers took Trump's buyout offer.

The judge that a group of labor unions did not have legal standing to challenge the program, commonly described as a buyout.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend Sunday’s Daytona 500 race, marking the second major sporting event he will attend in about a week since returning to the White House. The iconic 500-mile race,