Jake Tapper, Stephen Miller spar over federal workers

CNN’s Jake Tapper and Stephen Miller, President Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, debated on air over the federal workforce Tuesday after Mr. Miller suggested that employees who lost their jobs might blame their liberal standing.

“There [are] 2 million employees in the federal government,” Mr. Miller said on “The Lead.” “Overwhelmingly the career federal service in this country is far left, left wing.”

He said the employees from the United States Agency for International Development were examined and that “98% either donated to Kamala Harris or another left-wing candidate.”

Mr. Tapper injected, saying Mr. Miller is “demonizing an entire workforce.”

Mr. Miller shouted back asking him, “Did you just say that saying someone voted for Kamala Harris is demonizing them?”

He started laughing before saying, “You just said that I’m demonizing somebody by saying they voted for Kamala Harris.”

After Mr. Tapper asked to get the interview back on track, and Mr. Miller said he was on track, the White House official explained that “the American people voted for dramatic change implemented by Donald Trump.”

“So it is essential for him to get control of government to establish a whole of government process for Donald Trump’s political appointees to review discretionary grants of spending for pet projects that are not directed by Congress,” Mr. Miller said.

“So in other words these are pots of money where Congress hasn’t said how to spend it or where to spend it,” he said. “This might be something like saying, ‘I want to build a $500 million fountain in the courtyard of the Department of Commerce.’ This might be something like saying, ‘I want to fund gender studies in Afghanistan.’”

“There has to be political control and review,” he said.

Dozens of senior officials from USAID were placed on paid administrative leave Monday after acting Administrator Jason Gray said “several actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the president’s executive orders and the mandate from the American people” were identified.

That came after Mr. Trump signed an executive order putting a 90-day pause on foreign aid.

The president offered all federal workers eight months’ salary in exchange for resigning their positions. The White House said the move could prompt 5% to 10% of the federal workforce to quit, resulting in a savings of around $100 billion. Any government employee is eligible for the buyout, with exceptions such as military personnel.