United States President Donald Trump’s point person, Elon Musk on Monday renewed his threat to fire federal workers who do not comply with his demand to justify their jobs, even after the Trump administration said workers did not have to respond.
The agency that oversees federal employees on Monday said they could ignore a weekend email from Musk that required them to summarize their work or face losing their jobs.
The order triggered widespread confusion across the federal government and raised questions about how much actual authority Musk possesses within the administration.
As the deadline for response grew near on Monday, Musk, whom Trump appointed to head up a newly named Department of Government Efficiency that Trump has tasked to radically downsize the government, seemed to acknowledge that his plan had run aground.
In a post on X, Musk said the email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send.
“Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers.
“Subject to the discretion of the president, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination,” he said.
The White House has not yet commented on the development.
