Despite a comment by President Donald Trump, the Environmental Protection Agency does not plan to reduce its staff by 65%, but major budget cuts are likely

"I spoke with Lee Zeldin and he thinks he's going to be cutting 65 or so percent of the people from environmental," Trump said.

The president also said EPA has found "a lot of people that didn't exist" at the agency, but did not elaborate.

The White House on Thursday walked back President Donald Trump's claim the day before that the Environmental Protection Agency plans to cut 65% of its workforce, saying the environmental regulator plans to cut its spending by 65%.

President Donald Trump recently said the Environmental Protection Agency would cut 65% of jobs as part of cuts, but the White House has since clarified that he was referring to spending – not jobs. At his first Cabinet meeting Wednesday,