Trump admin live updates: Trump says Hamas will release hostage Edan Alexander

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is ordering the military to slash the number of general officers within its ranks.

In a memo signed Monday, Hegseth said there should be a "minimum" 20% reduction in the number of four-star generals and admirals across the active-duty force.

He also called for at least a 20% reduction of general officers in the National Guard, as well as at least a 10% reduction in general and flag officers affiliated with combatant commands. Hegseth says the order is needed to "drive innovation and operational excellence, unencumbered by unnecessary bureaucratic layers that hinder their growth and effectiveness."

"A critical step in this process is removing redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership by reducing excess general and flag officer positions," he wrote in a memo obtained by ABC News.

CNN first reported Hegseth's signing of the order.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty

House Speaker Mike Johnson unsurprisingly came to the president's defense over comments made by Trump saying children may have to buy fewer toys due to the ongoing trade war.

"We had to disrupt the system, and we're going to have the desired results," Johnson said during a gaggle with reporters in the Capitol.

The speaker added "whatever short-term disruption there is or discomfort, I think what [Trump's] trying to say there, I think, is that it will well pay off in the long run."

Trump's comments, made while answering questions at the end of his Cabinet meeting late last month, appeared to dismiss tariffs' impacts on American families, including on children's toys.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller

House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged his ambitious timeline to pass President Trump's sweeping legislative agenda may slide.

"Everybody remains on in close coordination on the urgency of the hour, and we are trying to get it [the bill] done. If it's not done before Memorial Day, will be shortly thereafter. But our timetable is on pace and we're going to get this done ASAP," Johnson said at the Capitol Monday afternoon.

Johnson downplayed any struggles or disagreements in trying to meet his Memorial Day timeline for House Republicans to pass the bill to fund Trump's agenda. Republicans remain apart on issues like SALT (the state and local tax) and Medicaid benefits -- major sticking points for members to ultimately support the package.

"It's not a setback at all," Johnson said, referring to House Ways and Means Committee and Energy and Commerce Committee pushing back their planned markups by a week.

The speaker concluded by declaring that the timeline for Trump's agenda bill is "on track" and "if anybody tells you otherwise, they're not in the room." These comments come after Johnson, Trump and other top Republicans met at the White House last Thursday.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller

On Monday, President Trump was asked by reporters about the new plan unveiled by his administration encouraging migrants to self-deport by offering a $1,000 stipend.

"So, we're going to have a self-deportation, where they deport themselves out of our country and we'll work with them, and we're going to try, and if they -- if we think they're good, if they have, you know, the people we want in our country, they're going to come back into our country. We'll give them a little easier route. But if they don't work and if we take them out after the date, then, they're never coming back, and that's the least of the problems they're going to have," Trump said in the Oval Office.

He said that as part of the program "we're going to pay each one a certain amount of money, and we're going to get them a beautiful flight back to where they came from, and they have a period of time."

ABC News has asked the White House about whether there is an end-date to the self-deportation offer, as the president implied in his comments.

Trump said that people who do not self-deport will "never get a path to come back in."

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart