Good morning, guys.
Can you stop by, Karoline? We're back.
Good morning.
Long time, no see.
How are we?
Yes.
Can we borrow you?
I have many, many meetings to get to.
Sure.
Just -- just a brief one?
We'll take it.
So, I'll take two questions.
Just a couple, I have a meeting.
Great. Yes, can you talk about with [Inaudible] and --
We'll make it fast.
Oh, no. Hold on, [Inaudible] Guys, come to the mic. OK, they want you over here. Come to the mic. Sorry.
And then I'll be back out in a little bit if you have more. What's going on?
Two quick questions, guys. I really have to go. I've been very generous with my time this morning.
One question about these -- these buyouts.
Steve Witkoff is in the region right now. Can you talk about the expectations of a second ceasefire? And then just overall, does the president believe that the Palestinians should have an independent state?
Yeah.
Yes. Steve Witkoff is in the region right now. In fact, when I was on television, I missed a call from his communications person. So, I'm going to go take that call and maybe I'll have more information on that later.
You've been describing it as this effort to get folks to return to work. The union that represents federal workers though says this isn't a voluntary buyout. They say this is a purge of people that don't agree with the president. What's your response?
How involved was Elon in the -- the buyout program? We saw that DOGE posted on X today that.
That's absolutely false. This is a suggestion to federal workers that they have to return to work. And if they don't, then they have the option to resign. And this administration is very generously offering to pay them for eight months. Six percent of the federal workforce in the city actually shows up to work.
That's unacceptable. We're all here at work at the office. There are law enforcement officers and teachers and nurses across the country who showed up to the office today. People in this city need to do the same. It's an overwhelmingly popular policy with people outside of Washington DC. The president campaigned on this and his administration is keeping the promise.
Quick question to follow up on that, how much more is it going to cost because a lot of the space is now been given away, leases have expired, new purchases need to take place. What will it cost to bring all those workers back to create the new offices they need?
It's going to save tens of millions of dollars because this administration, or this government, has been wasting millions of dollars on empty office space that is beautiful. I mean, look at the buildings in this city, they're gorgeous, they've been here for decades and the American people are paying for them.
And so we're going to make good use of the office space in the city by having these federal workers return to work. I would also add that the order simply directs federal agencies to come up with a return to work plan. And so, this isn't a purge. And this isn't forcing every single individual in Washington DC to return to work, only if they are able, and of course, within the law.
One more quick one, if I can about the defense secretary. We were told that -- We heard that Pete Hegseth has now taken away the security protections that Mark Milley, General Mark Milley, has. Ahead of his confirmation, Pete Hegseth said that his priority would be focusing on the warriors within the military as his number one priority, not politics.
Isn't this putting -- is this putting politics before the warrior workforce by focusing on what seems to be punitive in the eyes of many critics?
No. The first action that Pete Hegseth took when he showed up at the Pentagon was telling that the warriors that work within that building, and most importantly our service members who serve this country in uniform, that DEI would no longer be a part of the United States Military, we're focused on lethality.
We're focused on strength again and we're focused on rebuilding our military, which is something we haven't seen over the past four years. As for General Milley, the president's position on this remains the same as it does for John Bolton and the other individuals. He doesn't believe that these people should have the right to have security clearances and private details for the rest of their lives.
Again, taxpayers are funding it. And the individuals you're mentioning are quite wealthy, I understand, so they can get their own private security if they wish.
I had a couple of questions just about the freeze on federal loans and grants. Um, what will that report -- what will the report and review process look like when it goes to OMB for review? And also, now that a federal judge has temporarily blocked it, what are the plans moving forward on that because it seems like that Q&A memo that was released yesterday as well was trying to kind of explain a lot of the widespread confusion that a lot of these different organizations who rely on that funding, um, had.
So, I'm -- just on both of those questions?
Yeah, well, that's why the Q&A was released, so that there is no confusion. There's no confusion within this building. I know there is again amongst the media and those who don't seem to just be able to read a memo and take it for what it is. It's very clear, this is a temporary pause on federal funding to ensure that tax dollars are not funding things that this president has signed out of law.
So, the Green New Deal, DEI, etc. As I said repeatedly yesterday, and I would like to double down on the fact that Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, which I'd like to be clear on that today, uh, welfare benefits, individual assistance, food stamps, etc., will not be impacted. So, the American people should not be confused about this.
And in fact, they should be grateful that this administration is actually valuing their hard earned tax dollars.
What about the federal -- what is the response though to the federal judge who has temporarily blocked this? That should be expected to play out in court on Monday? What are -- what are your guys plans regarding that? And also, just going back to the review process, what does that look like?
Everything this administration does is within the confines of the law and so, we're prepared to fight this battle in court.
Karoline -- Thank you, Karoline, for stopping. About that --
Thank you.
Is it true that he will be revoking the --