NEW YORK (AP) – Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were given within 48 hours to explain what they achieved last week, and billionaire Elon Musk was to cut the size of the federal government. It caused confusion across major institutions to expand his enthusiasm.
Musk, the chief of President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting, telegraphed extraordinary demands on social media networks on Saturday.
“Consistent with @RealdonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will receive an email promptly requesting a request to understand what they did last week,” Musk owned by him. I posted it on X. “A failure to respond will be considered a resignation.”
Watch: How Elon Musk gained so much power in the Trump administration
Shortly afterwards, federal employees, including judges, court staff and federal prison staff, received three lines of email at the direction. CC’s 5 bullets with what you achieved last week. ”
The reply deadline was listed Monday at 11:59pm, but the email did not include mask social media threats regarding those who failed to respond.
Some agencies immediately told employees that if they received a mask message they wouldn’t have to follow it.
“The Department of State will respond on behalf of the department. According to an email from Tibor Nagy, executive director of management acquired by the Associated Press, there is no obligation to report on your activities outside of the department chain.
The latest unusual directive from the Musk team was working to confirm the authenticity of the highlands, or in some cases, the messages, and multiple troubling agencies, including the National Weather Service, the State Department and the federal court system. Inject a new sense of confusion into the. Their employees do not respond.
Thousands of government officials have already been forced by federal workers by being fired or offering shopping during the first month of the Trump administration, both as White House and Mask’s so-called government efficiency. Masu. Tell agency leaders to plan “massive cuts” and freeze trillions of dollars in federal grant funding.
So far, there are no official numbers available for total firing or layoffs, but The Associated Press tallyed hundreds of thousands of workers affected. There are many jobs outside of Washington. The cuts include thousands of people including Veteran Affairs, Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Agency, and National Park Services.
Trade union leaders quickly condemned the ultimatum and threatened legal action.
AFGE President Everett Kelly called the new order an example of Trump and Musk’s “a complete sloppy to federal employees and the important services they provide to Americans.”
“For hundreds of thousands of veterans wearing second uniforms in civil servants, duties against privileged and unelected billionaires with this touch who have never performed an hour-long run. It is cruel and rude to be forced to justify his life, public service,” Kelly said. “AFGE challenges illegal termination of members and federal employees across the country.”
On Friday, Musk celebrated his new role at a conservative gathering by waving a giant chainsaw in the air. He called it a “chainsaw for bureaucrats” and said, “waste is pretty everywhere and pretty everywhere.”
Watch: Elon Musk wields “chainsaw for bureaucracy” on stage before speaking at CPAC
McLaurine Pinover, a spokesman for the Department of Human Resources, confirmed Musk’s directives and said individual agencies would “determine the next step.”
What happens if an employee is on vacation or on vacation? Again, she said that individual institutions will decide how to proceed.
In a message to employees on Saturday night, federal court officials directed recipients not to respond.
“We understand that some judges and judicial staff have received the email. We are instructing recipients to respond to five results from the previous week. This email is a judicial and judicial staff. It is recommended that you do not file a lawsuit, not arise from the administrative office,” the official wrote.
Juries across the country received emails from mask teams in late January. Clearly incorrect, US District Judge Randolph Daniel Moss said earlier this month. Moss said he received the message and ignored it.
National Weather Service’s leadership acknowledged the confusion in the message to employees late Saturday.
“In the past few hours, some of us — potentially all of us, have received an email message entitled “What did you do last week?” Please do not respond until you have confirmed that the message received at about 4:46pm on ET is authentic. ”
The leadership of the National Weather Service continued.
Associated Press authors Matthew Lee, Seth Borenstein, Chris Megarian, Matthew Lee, Lindsay Whitehurst, Michael Sissack and Matthew Perrone contributed to the report.
