The FBI and the State Department are among the important US agencies that have told their staff to ignore Elon Musk’s demand that government workers justify what they did last week or face termination. Musk is in charge of decreasing costs.
On the eve of the start of a new workweek, federal employees nationwide are feeling the effects of the resistance, which has heightened an already prevalent feeling of disarray and disorder while drawing attention to what may be a power struggle among Trump’s supporters.
Hundreds of thousands of government employees were emailed by Musk’s team on Saturday, giving them around 48 hours to identify five specific activities they performed last week. Musk threatened to fire any employee in a second X message who did not reply by Monday at 11:59 p.m. EST, the time specified in the email.
The extraordinary order from Musk came hours after Trump urged him on social media to “get more aggressive” in shrinking the government through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and it was met with criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans.
Republican New York Representative Mike Lawler remarked, “I don’t know how that’s necessarily feasible” when asked about Musk’s threat of disobedience. Union contracts cover a large portion of the government workforce.
Though the email did not contain the threat of workers losing their jobs, it is uncertain what legal basis the Trump administration would have for firing tens of thousands of workers for refusing to comply with Musk’s most recent demand.
A number of agency heads, including Trump appointees, have urged their employees not to comply, and unions have threatened legal action.
For the time being, bureau agents have been directed to disregard Musk’s request by newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel, who is an enthusiastic supporter of Trump.
“All of our review processes are overseen by the FBI, through the Office of the Director. Reviews will be conducted in accordance with FBI procedures,” Patel stated in an email that was corroborated by The Associated Press. We will coordinate the answers when more information is needed. Please hold off on responding for the time being.
On Sunday, the president’s nominee to serve as the District of Columbia’s temporary US attorney, Ed Martin, wrote a message to his staff that might lead to more misunderstandings. Martin mentioned that he took it upon himself to reply to the inquiry about what was accomplished last week.
The email acquired by the AP was written by Martin and addressed the Office of Personnel Management. “Let me clarify: We will comply with this OPM request whether by replying or deciding not to reply,” Martin wrote.
“Please respond and provide an account of your whereabouts (or lack thereof, depending on your preference); I will, as previously stated, stand by your side in the event of any misunderstanding,” Martin wrote. “I think we’re both capable of completing this.”
The previous night, Martin had told the employees to follow Musk’s directive. GREAT WORK by DOGE and Elon. Historic. In his letter from the time, Martin expressed his pleasure at being involved.
Marco Rubio, who is Trump’s secretary of state, and other State Department officials were more forthright.
In an email, acting undersecretary for management Tibor Nagy assured staff that department heads would reply on their behalf.
In an email that the AP was able to get, Nagy stated, “No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command.”
The White House and DOGE have already fired or offered “deferred resignation” to thousands of federal employees in the first month of Trump’s second term, telling agency heads to prepare for “large-scale reductions in force” and dismissing both new and career workers.
While the exact number of employees laid off or fired is unknown at this time, the Associated Press has counted hundreds of thousands. There will be thousands of layoffs at many federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, the National Park Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and Health and Human Services. Many of these employees work outside of Washington, DC.
On Sunday, Musk referred to his most recent request as “a very basic pulse check.”
“This is important because many government employees are slacking off to the point where they stop checking their email altogether!” Musk made a post on X. There have been instances when we have reason to think that paychecks are being collected from nonexistent individuals or those who have passed away. So, it’s clear that fraud is taking place.
No proof of such fraud has been presented by him. Trump and Musk have both recently made baseless claims that millions of individuals who have passed away are still collecting Social Security benefits.
The Pentagon’s probationary civilian workers and the U.S. Agency for International Development’s contractors, among hundreds of others, got no-name termination letters over the weekend and are getting ready to quit the government workforce this coming week.
This is the latest blow in the administration’s month-long war on USAID, during which time the agency’s budget has been suspended, its Washington headquarters has been closed, and hundreds of overseas assistance and development projects have been shut down.
The government must at least temporarily restore the cash to programs globally, according to a court who temporarily blocked the ban on foreign assistance. The judge added that the administration has continued to withhold the help. However, a different court gave the go light for the government to fire hundreds of USAID employees.
Workers pointed out that it could be difficult for the fired employees to collect unemployment benefits because the notice letters to USAID contractors were generic and did not specify who was receiving them or in what role.
New York Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries called Trump “a chaos agent” who is attempting to divert attention away from his inaction on reducing inflation and addressing Americans’ economic issues.
“The American people are being unleashed into chaos,” said Jeffries on Sunday.
Lawlor made an appearance on “This Week” (ABC) and “State of the Union” (CNN) with Jeffries.
