Trump admin 'caught in a lie' about massive IRS layoffs: reporter

President Donald Trump's administration has been "caught in a lie" about its massive cuts to government agencies, including the IRS, CNN senior reporter Marshall Cohen reported Tuesday.

Cohen cited the release of a report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which found that probationary IRS employees were terminated "without following internal procedures and considering individual performance."

"The Trump administration fired 7,300+ probationary IRS employees in February, with a termination letter stating: 'taking into account your performance... your continued employment... is not in the public interest,'" said Cohen.

Of those, 51% of newer probationary employees "didn't even have a performance evaluation on record yet. And for the other employees who had been evaluated, 99% (!) were deemed 'fully successful' at their jobs, or better," Cohen added.

Being on probation doesn't mean that the employee did something wrong; rather, it means they're new and there is a probationary period before

The New York Times reported in April that before Trump took office, there were about 100,000 IRS employees. Since, however, 22,000 employees took resignation offers and 7,000 probationary employees were let go. The report said it means "the agency would be on track to lose about a third of its work force this year."

The firings fell under Trump's effort to significantly reduce the workforce in the federal government under the guise that it would be more efficient. He tasked tech billionaire Elon Musk with the job.

Read the full report here.