President Donald Trump signed an order within hours of taking office on Monday to make it easier to fire thousands of federal agency employees and replace them with political loyalists. The order, which is largely identical to one Trump issued late in his first term,

At least 240 employees are known to have been fired, reassigned, or designated to be laid off. Thousands of employees could be affected by other moves, such as a federal employee buyout offer, or the grant funds pause.

US President Donald Trump has offered federal workers the option to resign and receive pay for eight months, in a major effort to shrink and reform the US government. In an email, his administration has asked almost all government employees to decide by 6 February whether they want to be part of a "deferred resignation" programme that will mean them leaving their jobs no later than the end of September.

As many as 200,000 federal employees are expected to quit by September, according to senior administration officials