Despite a comment by President Donald Trump, the Environmental Protection Agency does not plan to reduce its staff by 65%, the White House and the agency said Thursday, though major budget cuts are likely.

The president also said EPA has found "a lot of people that didn't exist" at the agency, but did not elaborate.

"I spoke with Lee Zeldin and he thinks he's going to be cutting 65 or so percent of the people from environmental," Trump said.