As Elon Musk and President Donald Trump attempt to streamline the US Government, all federal employees should expect an email in their inbox which could result in resignation if not responded to.
Musk and Trump have wasted no time in implementing swift changes to the federal government.
The Tesla CEO has been officially granted the title of ‘special government employee’, as well as leading a task force of people at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.
According to Trump, DOGE’s primary objective is ‘dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies’.
And on Saturday (February 22), Musk revealed an ultimatum for federal employees in the form of an email.
Elon Musk has issued a blanket email to all federal employees ordering them to tell him what they have been up to in the last working week (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The instruction in the email is clear, officials must explain what they have done in the last week – and if they don’t manage to respond by 11.59pm ET on Monday, they’ll be essentially be handing in their resignation.
Taking to Twitter yesterday, Musk tweeted: “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.”
So, how did the email read then? Well, one person who received the notification posted a picture of it online.
“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your
manager,” it read. “Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments.
“Deadline is this Monday at 11:59pmEST.”
According to the BBC, the email landed in people’s inboxes following Trump’s appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), with the email’s subject reading: “What did you do last week?”
Meanwhile, emails obtained by CNN also showed they were marked as highly important, with Musk’s mention of resignation as a result of a non response similarly not included.
Given the other drastic changes Trump has enforced on the workplace, this decision hasn’t been received well.
FBI director Kash Patel has advised employees not to immediately respond, saying (via Sky News): “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. When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses.
“For now, please pause any responses.”
Federal court officials has also urged for non response, adding: “Please be advised that this email did not originate from the judiciary or the administrative office and we suggest that no action be taken.”
Meanwhile, President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Everett Kelley, called the action ‘cruel and disrespectful’ towards federal employees, adding that the AFGE would ‘challenge any unlawful terminations of our members and federal employees across the country’.
Donald Trump finally discloses what Elon Musk’s real job is for the federal government
Donald Trump has put the ‘President Musk’ rumors to bed once and for all…
While the internet has joked Elon Musk is the ‘real’ president of the United States, Donald Trump has revealed exactly what the tech mogul’s responsibilities are for the federal government.
The pair had a bit of a rocky start to their friendship but grew closer over Trump’s campaign trial in 2024 which has ultimately bagged the billionaire tech aficionado a cosy spot as a special government employee in the Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The department is tasked with cutting government costs, modernizing federal technology, ending fraud and a waste of taxpayer money while improving overall governmental productivity.
For instance, an audit revealed the Air Force spent more than $1,200 replacing 25 reheatable coffee cups, per cup.
Still, Musk’s position has sparked somewhat of a controversy with the internet creating memes depicting Musk as the ‘president’ and Trump the ‘vice president’ as some critics question who is really running the country, claiming they never voted for Musk.
Campaigners argue they didn’t ‘vote’ for Elon Musk as he apparently takes on a key governmental role (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Now, in an exclusive interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Tuesday (February 18), the pair talked about their friendship and exactly what Musk does for the federal government.
The Tesla CEO initially said he was just ‘tech support’ for the president, even going so far as to don a black-and-white t-shirt with the phrase emblazoned on, but the 78-year-old president clarified that Musk’s job is to take on the bureaucratic process and ‘get it done’.
As we know, Trump is clearly a big fan of executive orders, having signed dozens in a matter of days into his presidency, but suggested there has been a lag in how they’re adopted – until Musk streamlined the process ‘with his 100 geniuses’.
Musk initially said he was just ‘tech support’ for Donald Trump (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
In actuality, new White House documents reveal Musk, who is working for free in the department, isn’t technically part of it all, merely acquiring the title ‘senior advisor to the president’ which has ‘no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself’, reports AP.
Essentially, he’s not the key-decision-maker at DOGE that Trump made him out to be.
Still, the president also joked in the Fox interview that he picked Musk as his go-to man because he ‘couldn’t find anyone smarter’, going so far as to say the team even tried to find someone more intelligent than the SpaceX founder to no avail.
The pair recently spoke about their friendship (Fox News)
The pally interview also saw the duo compliment each other to the point Hannity said he felt he was ‘interviewing two brothers’.
So far, DOGE has cut billions in contracts to private firms that were awarded by the Education Department and the National Institutes of Health, which sits in harmony with Trump’s vision to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
Musk also said: “I’m a technologist, and I try to make technologies that improve the world.”
“My t-shirt says tech support, because I’m here to provide the president with technology support,” he continued. “And now that may seem like, well, is that a silly thing? But actually it’s a very important thing, because the president will make these executive orders, which are very sensible and good for the country, but then they don’t get implemented.”
Elsewhere, Musk added: “I love the president. I think President Trump is a good man.”
Trump also praised Musk, describing him as a ‘leader’ and a ‘brilliant guy’.
“He’s got tremendous imagination,” Trump continued. “But he’s also a good person. He’s a very good person.”
Elon Musk says he wants to ‘die on Mars’ in bizarre new interview with Trump
Elon Musk seemed to divide the internet with his comment
Donald Trump appeared to show that he had confidence in Elon Musk’s space goals as the billionaire cracked a bizarre joke in a new interview.
During a recent chat with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Musk and Trump revealed how they came to be aligned.
The Tesla CEO insisted that he was going to support the Republican in his presidency, but this move was ‘sped up’ after the assassination attempt on his life in Pennsylvania in July, 2024.
And even though Trump admitted he ‘settled’ on Musk after searching for ‘somebody smarter’, the president showed his support for the businessman’s technological and space objectives in the coming years.
Trump told Hannity: “[Elon’s] going to go into orbit soon. He’s going to go to Mars.”
SpaceX founder Musk responded: “At some point, They ask me ‘Do you want to die on Mars?’ and I say ‘Yes but not on impact’.”
This was a joke that really seemed to tickle Trump as he let out a hearty laugh.
It also appeared to be a reference to the comment Musk made during a keynote address at South by Southwest (SXSW) in 2013.
“I’d like to die on Mars, just not on impact,” he said at the time.
On social media, the moment seems to have divided people, with some praising the billionaire tech mogul for his light-hearted nature while others weren’t as amused.
One Twitter user joked: “I think Elon Musk should go to Mars as soon as possible & I think he should take Trump with him.”
Sean Hannity said he felt he was ‘interviewing two brothers’ (Fox News)
Another added: “Can we please send Elon on a one-way trip to Mars? And preferably sooner than later.”
While a third: “How soon can he leave to go to Mars?? Can he take Trump with him?? What a fantastic event that would be.”
But on the flip side, Musk’s supporters were more than happy to defend him and bring attention to the progress his companies have made in regard to space travel and rocket development.
One person replied: “Exploring Mars is the ultimate human adventure – but sticking the landing is definitely preferred! Love how both these visionaries can keep it real while pushing humanity’s boundaries.”
Musk has long talked about his dreams of colonizing Mars (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
A second commented: “Elon Musk always has a way with words! His vision for Mars colonization is no joke, though – he’s serious about making humanity a multi-planetary species. Trump’s comment just adds to the humor: ‘Elon’s gonna go into orbit soon.’”
Someone else wrote: “The most powerful leaders in the world proving they don’t see themselves as Kings but men and they still have humor.”
Musk has previously spoken about his plans to send humans to Mars while SpaceX has shared an animated clip showing how this could happen via the $3 billion Starship.
And back in March 2022, he tweeted that he sees 2029 as the earliest possible date to get humans on the Red Planet.
Regardless of how you feel about Musk and Trump, it seems Mars is somewhat on the agenda for the pair.
Donald Trump reveals Elon Musk’s ‘deep fear’ in awkward interview amid rumors their friendship is breaking down
The ‘bromance’ between the president and his ‘first buddy’ could be in danger
POTUS Donald Trump and his ‘first buddy’ Elon Musk have shut down rumors that their friendship could be breaking down.
The President and the billionaire tech mogul grew closer over Trump’s campaign trial in 2024, ultimately bagging Musk a spot as a special government employee in the Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Now, the 78-year-old Republican has put rumors to bed that the pair have fallen out.
In a sneak peek interview between the pair with Sean Hannity on Fox News that is yet to air, the reporter said the ‘media’ ran a ‘weaponization’ campaign against the POTUS but that Trump’s re-election ‘prove[s] that they have no power anymore’.
The journalist name dropped the New York Times and The Washington Post as well as cable news for ‘throwing everything’ at Trump during the campaign.
“Now I see they want you two to start – they want a divorce. They want you two to start hating each other,” Hannity continued. “President Elon Musk, for example.”
Hannity slammed rival news agencies for their coverage of Trump and Musk (Fox News/YouTube)
Trump replied: “Oh I see it all the time.”
“[The media] have many different things of hatred. Actually, Elon called me, he said: ‘You know they are trying to drive us apart?’ I said: ‘Absolutely’.”
Trump joked about the ‘President Musk’ jibes and his friend calling a cabinet meeting, to which Musk laughed.
“I said it is just so obvious,” the president continued. “They are so bad at it. I used to think they were good at it but they are actually bad at it because if they were good at it, I’d never be president.”
The president spoke about the media attempting to drive them apart (Fox News/YouTube)
Trump went on to say he believes no other president ‘in history’ has got ‘more bad publicity than me’.
“I could do the greatest things – I get 98 percent bad publicity,” he said before praising Hannity and his colleagues at Fox News, which is currently investigating alleged media bias from other networks.
Trump also said that the people ‘get it’ and can see ‘what is happening’ while the Tesla CEO agreed.
The bombshell interview comes after a Reuters piece reported on an alleged conflict between Musk’s DOGE and Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles.
Trump and Musk haven’t always had a rosy relationship either, from public disagreements to insulting words being exchanged on both sides.
In 2016, Musk said that his future buddy was ‘not the right guy’ to take over the White House.
The pals have had a rocky relationship over the years (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
A year later, he resigned from presidential advisory boards and slammed the POTUS for leaving the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Fast forward five years, their friendship was seemingly back on track after Trump described the SpaceX CEO as one of the world’s ‘greatest geniuses’. But he then backtracked six months later, referring to the South African as a ‘bulls*** artist’ when Musk revealed his intentions to buy Twitter.
Musk snapped back: “I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.”
Despite the spat, Musk reinstated Trump’s Twitter account and, by the end of 2023, appeared sympathetic to some of his policies – namely the US border wall with Mexico – before donating $45 million a month to a new pro-Trump Super PAC in the summer of 2024.
In August that year, Musk and Trump teased the Twitter owner could be head of a new ‘government efficiency’ group and in the fall, Trump went to Texas to witness SpaceX’s starship launch.
Media reports indicate that the pair spend ‘almost every day together’ with Musk calling himself ‘First Buddy’.
The full interview with the pair is set to air on Tuesday.
Elon Musk’s DOGE allegedly finds $4,700,000,000,000 treasury payments with missing code which makes tracing them ‘almost impossible’
Musk has said changes are being made to prevent this in future
Elon Musk’s DOGE is already making waves after they recently made a shocking claim in a post online.
Elon Musk has been a very visible figure in Donald Trump’s administration since he returned to the White House last month, especially with his work in DOGE, the Department of Government of Efficiency.
The Department of Government Efficiency took to X (formerly Twitter) on Monday (February 17) to explain their findings and how a change they are going to implement will aid transparency.
They claimed that $4.7 trillion dollars of treasury payments could not be completely traced and changes would be made to ensure this isn’t the case in the future.
Elon Musk has said this change would improve transparency(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
In a post, they wrote: “The Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) is an identification code linking a Treasury payment to a budget line item (standard financial process).
“In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible. As of Saturday, this is now a required field, increasing insight into where money is actually going. Thanks to @USTreasury for the great work.”
TAS codes are used to describe any one of the account identification codes assigned by the Treasury, according to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.
Musk praised this change on his own Twitter post, saying it was a ‘major improvement in Treasury payment integrity’.
He added: “This was a combined effort of [DOGE, Treasury and the Federal Reserve]. Nice work by all.”
