US President Donald Trump on Monday addressed the controversy surrounding Tesla founder Elon Musk’s email directive to federal employees to justify their work activities, claiming that “a lot of people [are] not answering because they do not exist.”
During a press briefing, Trump said, “I thought it was great, because we have people that don’t show up to work and nobody even knows if they work for the government. So by asking the question ‘Tell us what you did this week’– what he is doing is saying, Are you actually working?”
“And if you don’t answer you’re sort of semi-fired or fired. A lot of people are not answering because they do not exist. That how badly various parts of government were run, especially by this last group. So they are trying to find out who is working for the government or we paying other people aren’t working,” he added.
Elon Musk previously stated that the directive aligned with President Trump’s guidance, describing it as a straightforward evaluation that would require minimal time to complete, not exceeding five minutes.
The email, titled “What did you do last week?”, required federal employees to list five bullet points of their accomplishments and CC their managers.
Earlier on X, Musk stated: “Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
According to CNN, while the email established a Monday 11:59 pm ET deadline, it did not explicitly mention termination and cautioned against including classified information, links, or attachments.
Musk, heading President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), reiterated on Monday morning that non-compliant federal workers would need to seek employment elsewhere after the 11:59 p.m. deadline.
The directive created confusion across federal agencies, with varied responses – some agencies instructing compliance whilst others, under Trump appointees, declined to implement it.
FBI Director Kash Patel instructed bureau staff to disregard Musk’s email temporarily. In an internal communication reported by NBC, Patel stated: “FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information. The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures. For now, please pause any responses.” Translation? The FBI doesn’t take orders from Musk.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard instructed intelligence personnel to disregard the email. Gabbard, who was recently appointed as Trump’s intelligence chief, followed Patel’s approach.
“Given the inherently sensitive and classified nature of our work, [intelligence community] employees should not respond to the OPM email,” Gabbard wrote, The New York Times reported.
Her position aligned with Patel’s directives, who assumed his 10-year position on Friday and advised staff against responding to the request the following day.
The 78-year-old president had earlier shared a meme featuring the Nickelodeon character with writing materials, appearing contemplative, alongside SpongeBob’s friend Patrick Star holding a modified list titled “Got Done Last Week.”
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