White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Washington EPA=Yonhap News. 

The White House has emphasized that President Donald Trump's threat to carry out massive layoffs of federal employees in response to a government shutdown will indeed be realized.

In an interview with Fox News on the second day of the shutdown, the 2nd (local time), White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that President Trump's foreshadowed cuts to government organizations and programs are "very real" when asked if they were genuine or a negotiation tactic.

She criticized, "Democrats need to know that they have brought the White House and the President to this situation. If Democrats had not voted to shut down the government, we would not be having this discussion at the White House today."

Jean-Pierre added, "This is an unfortunate consequence, and the President and Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), are scheduled to meet later today."

She urged moderate Democratic senators, saying, "They know what the right thing to do is. They just lack the courage to act. However, they must vote in favor of this 'clean continuing resolution' to keep the government operating. They voted for it in March and 13 previous times."

Immediately after the interview, speaking to reporters at the White House, Jean-Pierre also stated that the scale of the massive layoffs of federal employees would be "in the thousands."

Meanwhile, regarding a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that President Trump had ordered the provision of long-range missile strike information to Ukraine to deeply attack Russia's interior, Jean-Pierre stated in the interview, "We do not comment on classified intelligence matters. However, I am aware that the President has made it very clear that he will continue to sell weapons to NATO to provide weapons to Ukraine."

Yonhap News