President Trump and Elon Musk, who is leading the administration’s downsizing efforts, are pushing for quick and widespread layoffs. But the blitz has run into a complicated set of restrictions.

Here is a look at Trump's actions so far and the legal obstacles he could face in downsizing the 2.3 million-strong civilian federal workforce. WHAT HAS TRUMP DONE SO FAR? Trump on February 11 signed an executive order directing federal agencies to make large-scale personnel reductions and look for ways to eliminate or combine positions.

The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation’s largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection — potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.