Billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk emailed federal staff asking them to listing what that they had performed final week.
A number of US federal businesses advised workers not to answer a requirement by President Donald Trump’s adviser Elon Musk to listing their accomplishments within the final week or be fired.
Federal businesses gave the memo on Sunday, a day after Musk’s crew despatched an electronic mail to a whole lot of 1000’s of federal workers giving them about 48 hours to problem their stories.
Musk leads the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which within the first weeks of Trump’s administration has laid off greater than 20,000 staff and supplied buyouts to a different 75,000, throughout massive segments of the US authorities.
Following Musk’s transfer, Trump administration-appointed officers on the FBI and State Division despatched their workers emails telling them to not reply exterior their chains of command, in a potential signal of stress between allies of the Republican president and the world’s richest particular person in his marketing campaign to chop down the federal government’s 2.3 million member civilian workforce.
“The FBI, by means of the workplace of the director, is in command of all our evaluation processes,” stated FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump appointee, in an electronic mail to workers seen by the Reuters information company.
Federal staff on Saturday night acquired an electronic mail instructing them to element the work they did in the course of the earlier week by 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday (05:00 GMT Tuesday), shortly after Musk posted on his X social media web site that failing to reply could be taken as a resignation.
The topic of the e-mail learn, “What did you do final week?” and got here from a human assets tackle within the Workplace of Personnel Administration, however didn’t embody Musk’s menace of termination.
Staff on the departments of Homeland Safety, Training and Commerce, in addition to on the Federal Deposit Insurance coverage Company, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being and the Inner Income Service additionally acquired steerage urging them to not reply, in response to sources and emails reviewed by Reuters.
Labour unions have additionally threatened lawsuits.
Whereas there may be bipartisan settlement that the US authorities, which carries $36 trillion in debt, would profit from reform, Musk’s method has drawn widespread criticism.
The biggest federal staff’ union, the American Federation of Authorities Staff, wrote on X on Sunday that it didn’t imagine Musk had the authority to fireside workers who didn’t reply and would formally request that the message be rescinded.
‘Fundamental pulse examine’
The e-mail left some workers much more annoyed and anxious after weeks of uncertainty about their futures.
Some legal professionals throughout the US Justice Division expressed concern that their work is confidential.
“I actually surprise when somebody goes to say sufficient,” one IRS worker advised Reuters.
Musk on X on Sunday referred to as the e-mail “a really primary pulse examine”.
The explanation this issues is {that a} vital variety of people who find themselves alleged to be working for the federal government are doing so little work that they aren’t checking their electronic mail in any respect!
In some instances, we imagine non-existent individuals or the identities of lifeless persons are getting used… https://t.co/Rj5Xe6vYZB
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 23, 2025
“The explanation this issues is {that a} vital variety of people who find themselves alleged to be working for the federal government are doing so little work that they aren’t checking their electronic mail in any respect!” Musk additionally wrote.
“In some instances, we imagine non-existent individuals or the identities of lifeless persons are getting used to gather paychecks. In different phrases, there may be outright fraud.”
He has supplied no proof of such fraud.
Some officers welcomed the transfer.
Ed Martin, Trump’s nominee for US Legal professional in Washington, DC, who’s serving in an interim capability, praised Musk and DOGE in an electronic mail response.
He instructed workers to adjust to Musk’s order.
“DOGE and Elon are doing nice work. Historic. We’re blissful to take part,” Martin wrote.
