The White House announced on Tuesday that Cabinet secretaries and federal agency leaders will make the ultimate decision regarding how to follow the directive from President Donald Trump’s top adviser Elon Musk instructing federal workers to list their accomplishments in the last week to their supervisors via email or face termination.
Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, wrote in a social media post last week that "Consistent with [Trump'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."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt walked this announcement back on Tuesday, saying that Trump "defers to his Cabinet secretaries who he's obviously entrusted to pursue the guidance relative to their specific workforce."
She added that "some of the agencies that you've seen that have said, 'Please don't send these emails,' it's in their best interest for that specific agency, and the president supports that."
Leavitt clarified later that "the agency heads will determine the best practices for their employees at their specific agencies."
The Office of Personnel Management previously told agency leaders that responding to the email requesting information on accomplishments is voluntary and a failure to reply will not be considered a resignation.
Multiple departments have instructed employees not to respond to the email, including FBI Director Kash Patel who told agency staffers to "pause any responses" until they can "coordinate" in a message on Saturday.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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