CNN
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Elon Musk’s presence at President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting on Wednesday will solidify his power in the administration — and how quickly he accumulated it despite whether he was not elected or the Senate was confirmed.
But his attempts to guilt federal workers in Trump’s image, such as giving drastic orders to employees across the government, have begun to gain inequality among cabinet secretaries and members of Congress, several sources familiar with the issue told CNN.
These frustrations were escalated when Musk provided a six-word order that caused rippling confusion across the government.
White House officials claimed they were not caught off guard by Saturday’s email from the Human Resources Administration sent at mask instructions.
However, Cabinet officials and members of the Congress were not lifted.
The subsequent threats of emails and subsequent Musk are the threat of people who don’t respond quickly – surprised some agency managers and the Trump administration’s chief executive, sources said they promptly raised questions about those who have the authority to issue directives to employees in different departments.
“Many agencies didn’t lift their heads, which caused a headache,” a senior White House official told CNN, saying several agencies immediately notified the White House and its employees that the confidential or sensitive nature of the job proved that there was a problem with the email.
Trump administration officials said the move led to “some inconvenience” among top officials as well as some cabinet secretaries, adding that the secretary “is in charge of his agency and needs to do his own reviews for where there is a need for reductions.”
Part of that frustration stems from a secretary who has been recently sworn in (some don’t even have a Senate confirmation vote yet). They also don’t have time to thoroughly investigate their workforce or properly assess their needs before the threat of firing begins.
Another area of concern probably stemmed from the notion that Musk had the power to terminate employment of workers if he failed to comply with the order that the secretary himself had not signed off.
The FBI and leaders in the state, justice, energy, homeland security and defense all instructed employees not to respond to emails given the sensitive nature of their work. And White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Tuesday that special government official Musk has no authority to hire and fire federal workers, and that Trump will postpone the best way to email him to his Cabinet Secretary.
“No one was caught off guard,” Leavitt told CNN in the press Tuesday when asked about staff not being given a head.
“Everyone works as one team,” Leavitt said. “The President is not interested in national security and does not want to reveal the risks of sensitive information, so he respects the decision of the Cabinet Secretary to tell staff not to respond to the email.”
Meanwhile, for example, people working in the President’s Executive Office were told they were not required to respond and were deemed exempt from email.
However, the controversy over the directive is the latest in a series of doge moves that have begun to surprise top administration officials who have expressed quiet skepticism about how Musk will carry out his priorities.
The decision to issue the directive is because Musk and his top advisors, working with the government’s efficiency department, are various agencies that will fly their heads to the offices of the Eisenhower executive office building where Musk has his own office and ask what employees will do for the government.
Musk has virtually free access to the West Wing, and often walks without notice from Eeob, sources told CNN. He occasionally meets White House Chief Susie Wills and Deputy Director Stephen Miller, but their staff often meet to coordinate future plans.
Musk has a list of ideas he “kicked” and is thinking Doge would try to implement, an administrative official told CNN.
The emails demanding five things that government employees made last week was one of those Musks asked banker Anthony Armstrong, who was eventually working with Musk, to take over Twitter.
In conversations with current and former Trump administration officials, many acknowledge the government’s likely bloat, and they generally approve Doge’s broader efforts to eradicate waste and abuse. But they also note concerns that masks are using them after Swift’s “cut and question.”
But the mask has yet to reach under the skin of one of the most important people: playing cards.
The president personally believes that the mask is bringing the kind of confusion he wants to the government, a source close to Trump told CNN. He also appreciates Musk’s fast-paced nature of his actions and told people nearby he didn’t want to keep people waiting for him to take action.
Jeff Zeleny of CNN contributed to this report.
