Rift between Trump appointees and Musk over federal employee accountability email
A rift appeared to open Sunday between some of President Donald Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s agency heads and Elon Musk, the billionaire tasked with reforming the federal government, over Musk바카라 게임 웹사이트s demand that all federal employees state their weekly accomplishments or risk termination.
By Sunday evening, leaders at the Pentagon, Federal Bureau of Investigation, State Department, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Energy had all instructed their staff not to reply to an email that federal workers received from the Office of Personnel Management on Saturday afternoon with the subject line: 바카라 게임 웹사이트What did you do last week?바카라 게임 웹사이트
Some managers, including at the Department of Health and Human Services, instructed workers to comply with the request to send a list of five accomplishments from the past week to a generic government email address, only to later reverse course. And others simply told their staff to wait until Monday 바카라 게임 웹사이트 and not to reply to the note before then.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the apparent discrepancy between Musk바카라 게임 웹사이트s directive and the guidance provided by agency heads.
The scramble to discern Trump and Musk바카라 게임 웹사이트s exact intentions with the email added another layer of uncertainty to an already-rattled federal workforce. It seemed to set up a showdown between some agency heads 바카라 게임 웹사이트 who were appointed by Trump himself, and who are all considered loyalists to his cause 바카라 게임 웹사이트 and Musk, who has paid little mind to the strict chains of command that dictate life within the federal bureaucracy.
Amid the confusion, Musk showed no sign of easing up.
바카라 게임 웹사이트EXTREMELY troubling that some parts of government think this is TOO MUCH!!바카라 게임 웹사이트 he wrote Sunday on X, the platform he owns. 바카라 게임 웹사이트What is wrong with them??바카라 게임 웹사이트
Musk바카라 게임 웹사이트s efforts faced criticism from Republicans over the weekend, including from Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who highlighted what she called the 바카라 게임 웹사이트absurd weekend email.바카라 게임 웹사이트
바카라 게임 웹사이트If Elon Musk truly wants to understand what federal workers accomplished over the past week, he should get to know each department and agency, and learn about the jobs he바카라 게임 웹사이트s trying to cut,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Murkowski wrote on X.
Overnight and into Sunday, senior officials at every agency worked to provide their employees guidance on how to proceed. Among the first to advise against responding was Kash Patel, who was just sworn in as FBI director at the end of last week.
바카라 게임 웹사이트The 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,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Patel wrote. 바카라 게임 웹사이트When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.바카라 게임 웹사이트
By Sunday, a flurry of other agencies 바카라 게임 웹사이트 many tasked with protecting the nation바카라 게임 웹사이트s safety and national security 바카라 게임 웹사이트 followed suit, even as Trump suggested online that he was still behind the plan.
바카라 게임 웹사이트The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures,바카라 게임 웹사이트 acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Darin Selnick wrote Sunday. 바카라 게임 웹사이트When and if required, the department will coordinate responses to the email you have received from OPM. For now, please pause any response to the OPM email titled 바카라 게임 웹사이트What did you do last week.바카라 게임 웹사이트바카라 게임 웹사이트
Multiple senior Defense Department officials told CNN the email thrust their weekend into chaos as they tried to determine what to tell employees about how to respond.
바카라 게임 웹사이트It is the silliest thing I바카라 게임 웹사이트ve seen in 40 years and completely usurps the chain of command,바카라 게임 웹사이트 one official said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트That might be done elsewhere, but in the DoD it바카라 게임 웹사이트s not done.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Homeland Security personnel received a message from the department바카라 게임 웹사이트s deputy under secretary for management, R.D. Alles, telling them not to respond for now, according to an email obtained by CNN.
바카라 게임 웹사이트DHS management will respond on behalf of the department and all of its component offices,바카라 게임 웹사이트 the email, dated Sunday, reads. 바카라 게임 웹사이트No reporting action from you is needed at this time. For now, please pause any responses outside of your DHS chain of command.바카라 게임 웹사이트
And the State Department informed its far-flung workforce that they, too, were not obligated to respond.
바카라 게임 웹사이트The State Department will respond on behalf of the Department. No employee is obligated to report their activities outside their Department chain of command,바카라 게임 웹사이트 an email sent late Saturday from the acting Undersecretary of Management said.
The Department of Health and Human Services told employees Sunday morning that the email was legitimate and that staffers should read and respond to it by the 11:59 p.m. ET Monday deadline. But the agency reversed its guidance on Sunday afternoon, telling employees to 바카라 게임 웹사이트pause바카라 게임 웹사이트 activities in answering the email.
Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, which are part of HHS, had already been told by individual agencies to wait until Monday for more guidance on how to respond. On Sunday afternoon, staffers at these divisions received the email from HHS telling them to pause responding.
Not all of Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s appointees overseeing federal workers handling sensitive information were as straightforward or reticent.
Ed Martin, the interim D.C. U.S. attorney who has publicly tried to curry favor with Musk, told his prosecutors바카라 게임 웹사이트 office they could choose to comply, in general fashion.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We are happy to be participate,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Martin wrote on Saturday. 바카라 게임 웹사이트Please respond to the HR email carefully with regard to confidentiality and our duties. Be general if you need to. If anyone gives you problems, I바카라 게임 웹사이트ve got your back. You바카라 게임 웹사이트re good.바카라 게임 웹사이트
The prosecutors in the office would regularly handle work on matters that may not be classified, but could be protected under grand jury secrecy, under seal by the court or are protected from disclosure for other reasons.
Across the sprawling federal workforce 바카라 게임 웹사이트 from Secret Service agents to federal judges to air traffic controllers to diplomats 바카라 게임 웹사이트 employees spent Sunday reckoning with yet another upheaval at the hands of Musk and his team.
This time, the impetus appears to have been Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s request, made on social media, for Musk to get more 바카라 게임 웹사이트aggressive바카라 게임 웹사이트 in his attempts to overhaul the federal government.
It didn바카라 게임 웹사이트t take long for Musk to reply with his plan to demand workers provide an accounting of their last week바카라 게임 웹사이트s work. In a post on X, he said anyone who didn바카라 게임 웹사이트t respond would be fired. Hours later, when the emails began hitting federal inboxes, there was no mention of the ultimatum.
Even as the confusion across the workforce became clear, Trump showed little sign he was backing off the plan. He posted a 바카라 게임 웹사이트SpongeBob SquarePants바카라 게임 웹사이트 meme that ridiculed the situation. 바카라 게임 웹사이트Got done last week,바카라 게임 웹사이트 the image read, followed by a list of five bullet points: 바카라 게임 웹사이트cried about Trump, cried about Elon, made it into the office for once, read some emails, cried about Trump and Elon some more.바카라 게임 웹사이트
For many senior officials, the episode underscored what has so far been relatively unchecked power by Musk to dramatically reshape the federal government.
With Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s blessing and encouragement, Musk바카라 게임 웹사이트s team of young engineers has embedded itself at a host of agencies, gaining access to sensitive databases and demanding career workers justify their continued employment.
For the most part, the secretaries and department heads named by Trump have offered little objection to Musk바카라 게임 웹사이트s efforts, and instead offered encouragement to see their buildings investigated and reformed.
But privately, questions have lingered over just how expansive Musk바카라 게임 웹사이트s power has become, and whether he should have ultimate say in how federal agencies 바카라 게임 웹사이트 many with their own intricate systems 바카라 게임 웹사이트 should be run.
By Sunday, even some Republicans had voiced opposition to Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s plan.
바카라 게임 웹사이트If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it바카라 게임 웹사이트s, 바카라 게임 웹사이트Please put a dose of compassion in this. These are real people. These are real lives,바카라 게임 웹사이트바카라 게임 웹사이트 Sen. John Curtis of Utah said in a Sunday interview on CBS바카라 게임 웹사이트 바카라 게임 웹사이트Face the Nation.바카라 게임 웹사이트 바카라 게임 웹사이트It바카라 게임 웹사이트s a false narrative to say we have to cut, and you have to be cruel to do it, as well. We can do both.바카라 게임 웹사이트