After days of confusion over emails asking authorities employees to element what they’d accomplished over the earlier week, President Donald Trump did not clear issues up when requested about them in his Cupboard assembly on Wednesday.
Requested by ABC Information’ Mary Bruce if the 1million employees who did not reply to the e-mail risked termination, Trump mentioned, “I would not say that we’re thrilled about it. They have not responded. Now, possibly they do not exist. Perhaps we’re paying individuals that do not exist,” he mentioned. “However these individuals are on the bubble …they’ll be gone.”
However regardless of Trump’s assertion, there may be nonetheless blended steering on how workers ought to reply.
Tens of millions of employees had been left in limbo after Musk posted on X Saturday that they could possibly be terminated if they didn’t reply to a “What did you do final week?” e-mail from the Workplace of Personnel Administration. Quickly after the e-mail was despatched, some company leaders, notably those that work with delicate and confidential info, instructed their workers to not reply. Others cautioned towards replying to the request with out steering.
President Donald Trump delivers remarks throughout a Cupboard assembly on the White Home, Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington.
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OPM late Monday afternoon supplied steering saying a reply was not necessary and to depend on steering from particular person companies. Then Musk supplied one other menace in a put up Monday night time, saying workers had been being given “one other likelihood” and “Failure to reply a second time will end in termination” and set a deadline of Tuesday night time.
So as to add to the confusion, Musk mentioned he meant to ship one other e-mail with out saying when. Requested by Bruce if a response to the subsequent e-mail, Trump did not reply straight, saying, “We’re attempting to determine, do they exist? Who’re they? And it is doable that a number of these individuals will probably be really fired.”
It’s unclear if Musk and his Division of Authorities Effectivity have any energy to terminate workers over the e-mail request. The earlier emails despatched from OPM, in essence the federal government’s human relations division, didn’t have any point out of termination — these threats had been issued solely from Musk on his X platform.
These not following Musk on social media may need not been conscious of the threats.
The American Federation of Authorities Staff (AFGE), the most important union of federal employees, referred to as the e-mail illegal and has threatened authorized motion.
Wednesday’s remarks got here after a complicated weekend for presidency employees.
Anti-Trump demonstrators protest outdoors the U.S. Capitol, as Republicans put together to vote on U.S. President Doanld Trump’s tax-cut agenda, in Washington, Feb. 25, 2025.
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Senior White Home officers — who had not been absolutely briefed on the plan — had been initially caught off guard, a number of sources instructed ABC Information.
Earlier than OPM weighed in Monday afternoon, some companies like Well being and Human Providers first instructed workers to answer then reversed itself hours later earlier than issuing particular pointers on what workers might or couldn’t put up of their replies.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed Tuesday that the transfer was to make sure that federal workers had been really working their jobs and declined to remark if this was a tactic to remove extra federal jobs.
The White Home claimed Trump despatched Musk an e-mail with 5 issues he had accomplished, however they had been generic speaking factors.
Musk instructed reporters Wednesday that the e-mail was his thought after the president instructed him to “be extra aggressive” along with his cuts.
“I mentioned, ‘Can we ship out an e-mail to everybody simply saying what did you get accomplished final week?’ The president mentioned, ‘Sure.’ So, we did that,” Musk mentioned.
Musk used related ways when he purchased Twitter, which he renamed X, making workers submit weekly reviews detailing tasks and accomplishments and contributions. Replying to a put up on Saturday declaring the simiarities , Musk wrote, “It really works.”
Elon Musk delivers remarks throughout a Cupboard assembly held by President Donald Trump on the White Home, Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington.
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When requested by Bruce if he had a goal variety of workers he wished to chop, Musk did not give a concrete reply.
“We want to hold everybody who’s doing a job that’s important and doing that job nicely, but when the job shouldn’t be important or they are not doing the job nicely, they clearly shouldn’t,” he mentioned.
