Elon Musk’s demand for federal workers to justify their jobs faced resistance after a weekend email seeking activity reports triggered confusion. While Trump praised Musk’s request as “genius,” several agencies quickly labeled it voluntary, advising employees not to comply. Division emerged within Trump’s cabinet, as some leaders urged compliance while others instructed staff to ignore Musk’s email. This internal discord marks a rare instance of dissent among top officials in Trump’s administration. The situation left many of the 2.3 million federal workers uncertain about their obligations, highlighting the challenges of Musk’s authority over the bureaucracy.
Elon Musk’s monthlong foray into the federal landscape faced its first significant challenge over the weekend, as some of President Trump’s staunchest supporters outright dismissed the billionaire’s order for their employees to justify their positions or risk immediate termination.
By Monday, merely 48 hours after an email from Mr. Musk titled “What did you accomplish last week?” reached the inboxes of millions of federal employees, personnel officials declared the “request” to be optional. Numerous agencies quickly sent communications reassuring their staff that it was unnecessary to submit the five bullet points regarding their activities as requested by Mr. Musk.
Around the same time, Mr. Trump commented during his visit with President Emmanuel Macron of France, lauding Mr. Musk’s request as “brilliant” and stating that employees who failed to respond would be “semi-fired” or “dismissed.”
The flip-flopping left many federal workers bewildered, but for the first time since Mr. Trump’s resurgence, government employees appeared to repel — at least for now — an attack in the conflict between the world’s wealthiest individual and the federal workforce.
Prior to this weekend, Mr. Trump’s top officials had uniformly endorsed Mr. Musk’s call for a streamlined, more efficient government, devoid of what Republicans label “woke” ideology. Thousands of employees have been terminated or placed on leave, with entire agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, nearly shut down. Remote workers have been instructed to return to the office or face termination.
However, the reactions to the weekend email indicate that there may indeed be limits to how far Mr. Musk, operating on Mr. Trump’s behalf as the head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, can influence the bureaucracy.
Inside the executive suites of federal agencies, the Musk email incited concerns over authority and security. The message divided Mr. Trump’s cabinet, with some department heads ordering compliance while others advised workers to disregard the order.
The responses from various department leaders made it evident that they were displeased by the implication that an outsider intended to take control of their personnel matters. Moreover, some agency heads expressed concerns that employees might inadvertently disclose sensitive or classified information in their replies to Mr. Musk.
At the C.I.A., senior officials refrained from issuing a public statement, but certain individuals within the agency were discreetly instructed not to respond to Mr. Musk’s email, hoping the issue would dissipate, according to a source familiar with the situation.
White House officials denied any implications for Mr. Musk’s authority or any discord among the president’s senior officials across the government.
“Everyone is collaborating cohesively as one team under President Trump’s leadership,” stated Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary. “Any suggestion to the contrary is entirely unfounded.”
A senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions, remarked that the rapid actions taken by Mr. Musk and DOGE were “precisely the intention” even if they caused some unease within the administration.
Nonetheless, the conflicting directives left many of the nation’s 2.3 million federal employees uncertain about how to proceed — even after the reassurances from the Office of Personnel Management on Monday.
Despite televisions broadcasting Mr. Trump’s praise for Mr. Musk, his personnel department informed agencies that responding to the Musk email was now “optional” and that failure to respond would not be interpreted as resignation, contrary to Mr. Musk’s earlier suggestion.
The dissent among top officials in Mr. Trump’s administration is unusual for a president known for demanding unwavering loyalty, resulting in decisive executive actions from his subordinates, all working uniformly to rapidly further Mr. Trump’s agenda.
Over the weekend, numerous high-ranking officials defied Mr. Musk, counseling their staff to “pause” or “not respond” to the request for a summary of five activities they conducted the previous week. Employees at the Departments of State, Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, and Justice were all explicitly told not to comply.
“For the time being, D.O.E. employees are requested to pause any direct response to the O.P.M. email,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated in a weekend email. A senior State Department official remarked, “No employee is required to report their activities outside of their department’s chain of command.”
Simultaneously, the president’s appointed leaders at the Treasury, the General Services Administration, the Department of Transportation, and the Office of Management and Budget instructed employees to adhere to Mr. Musk’s directive issued over the weekend. An email from Treasury stated, “You are directed to respond to this message by the deadline,” adding that “we anticipate that compliance will not be challenging or time-consuming.”
The division among advisers emerged just two days prior to Mr. Trump’s first full cabinet meeting of his second term scheduled for Wednesday. Eight years ago, his inaugural cabinet meeting turned into an occasion of unreserved admiration for Mr. Trump, as his top aides lauded the “blessing” of serving under him.
There is a possibility that a similar scenario could unfold again on Wednesday. Individuals within Mr. Trump’s current circle have repeatedly extolled his virtues in recent weeks. Following a meeting with Russian officials last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized multiple times that “Trump is the only leader who can broker peace in Ukraine.”
Madeleine Ngo and Nicholas Nehamas contributed reporting from Washington.