The White House said Friday it had begun mass layoffs of federal workers as President Donald Trump sought to amp up pressure on opposition Democrats to end a government shutdown that has crippled public services.

With the crisis set to go into a third week and no off-ramp in sight, Trump's budget chief Russ Vought announced on social media that the administration was following through on threats to fire some of the 750,000 public servants placed on enforced leave.

The Office of Management and Budget, headed by Vought, told AFP the layoffs would be "substantial," but gave no precise numbers or details of which departments would be most affected.

A court filing Friday said the government has fired more than 4,000 federal workers, including more than 1,000 each at the Treasury Department a

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