White House: Resignations will ‘spike’ by Thursday

By Hannah Northey | 02/04/2025 04:16 PM EST

The Office of Personnel Management, which manages the federal civil service, is defending its bid for staffers to resign.

Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk.

President-elect Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk in Boca Chica, Texas, on Nov. 19, 2024. Pool photo by Brandon Bell

The number of federal officials taking the Trump White House up on its offer for “deferred resignations” is “rapidly growing” and expected to “spike” before Thursday’s deadline, according to a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management.

Civil servants across the federal government have faced a drumbeat of information, informational webinars and mounting pressure tied to Trump’s “deferred resignation” offer, but the spokesperson declined to offer details on exactly how many workers had accepted.

The spokesperson also rejected multiple news reports that up to 20,000 workers had taken the offer.

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“I can tell you that [the 20,000] number being reported isn’t current, the number of deferred resignations is rapidly growing, and we’re expecting the largest spike to come 24-48 hours before the deadline,” said the spokesperson. “Because it’s rapidly growing we still don’t intend to share until after the Feb. 6 deadline.”

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