Elon Musk, President Donald Trump's point person for eliminating what he calls government waste, renewed his threat on Monday to fire federal workers who fail to justify their jobs – despite the Trump administration stating that employees were not required to respond.
The U.S. agency overseeing federal employees said workers could ignore Musk's weekend email, which demanded they summarize their work or risk termination. The directive caused widespread confusion across the federal government and raised questions about Musk's actual authority within the administration.
As Monday's response deadline approached, Musk – whom Trump appointed to lead the newly established Department of Government Efficiency, tasked with radically downsizing the government – appeared to acknowledge that his plan had stalled.
"The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!" Musk posted on X, the social media platform he owns. "Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers."
He added, "Subject to the discretion of the president, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination."
The White House did not immediately comment on Musk's remarks.
It was unclear whether Musk was aware of guidance issued earlier Monday by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which informed human resources officials that employees would not be fired for ignoring Musk's email and were not required to respond.