Trump: No plans to fill 'unnecessary' appointed positions

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President Trump reflects on his first month in office

The president opens up on 'Fox & Friends'

President Trump agrees the government glass is half empty. He just doesn’t necessarily mind it.

Trump, in an exclusive interview Tuesday with “Fox & Friends,” suggested his lack of political appointees is less about a difficulty in finding eager candidates and more about a desire for a leaner government operation.

“When I see a story about ‘Donald Trump didn’t fill hundreds and hundreds of jobs,’ it’s because, in many cases, we don’t want to fill those jobs,” Trump said.

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Prior to taking office, stories abounded about the more than 600 unfilled senior appointments that Trump had yet to make. But the president on Tuesday seemed in no rush to bloat his staff, and, in fact, bragged of “cutting” positions.

“A lot of those jobs, I don’t want to appoint, because they’re unnecessary to have,” Trump said. “You know, we have so many people in government, even me. I look at some of the jobs and it’s people over people over people. I say, ‘What do all these people do?’ You don’t need all those jobs.”

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There are more than 4,000 roles for political appointees throughout government, according to the Center for Presidential Transition. Some positions – such as Cabinet secretaries, ambassadors and independent agency heads – require Senate confirmation. Many, however, do not.

“Many of those jobs I don’t want to fill,” Trump said. “I say, isn’t that a good thing? That’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing. We’re running a very good, efficient government.”