Washington (AP)-Major US Agencies, including the FBI, the State Department and the Pentagon, have instructed their employees not to comply with the latest request of Chief Elon Musk that federal workers explain what they have achieved last week-or risk They lose their job.
The retreat from President Donald Trump appointed a new level of chaos and confusion within the dressed federal workforce, just a month after Trump returned to the White House and quickly began to implement the campaign, promising to shrink the government.
The administration’s officers have been confronted over the weekend to interpret Musk’s unusual mandate, who apparently has Trump support, although some MPs say it’s illegal. Unions want the administration to cancel the request and threatens to judge.
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Some officials resist. Others encourage their workers to comply. There were controversial guidelines in some agencies.
A message on Sunday morning by the Ministry of Health and Human Services, led by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., instructed his approximately 80,000 employees to comply. It was shortly after the post -acting General Advisor Sean Kevini had instructed some not to do it. And by Sunday evening, the agency’s management has issued new instructions that employees should “make the activities to pause” at the request by noon on Monday.
“I’ll be honest with you. After putting over 70 hours of work last week, occupying the administration’s priorities, I was personally offended to receive an email below, “Kevini says in an email viewed by the Associated Press.
Kevini set out security concerns and pointed out that part of the work done by the agency’s employees could be protected by a privilege of a lawyer: “I have not received guarantees that there are appropriate protection to protect the answers to this email.”
The Musk team sent an email to the federal staff on Saturday, giving them approximately 48 hours to report five specific things they had achieved last week. In a separate message of X, Musk said that every employee who did not respond until the deadline – set in the email as 11:59 pm Est Monday – will lose his job.
Retreat to Musk’s request
The Democrats and even some Republicans were critical of Musk’s ultimatum, which came only hours after Trump encouraged him in social media to “become more aggressive” to reduce the size of the government through his ministry of government effectiveness or wiring.
Senator John Curtis, R-UTAH, was among the Trump party members who had concerns.
“If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, as if, please put a dose of compassion in this,” said Curtis, whose country has 33,000 federal employees, “Face The Nation” told. are a real life.
On this week, ABC, reporter Mike Lowler, RN.Y., called into question the legal basis that the Trump administration would have to reject tens of thousands of workers to refuse Musk’s last request. The email did not include the threat that workers were losing their job.
For Senator Chris Van Holen, D-MD., There was no doubt: “The actions he takes are illegal,” he told “face the nation.”
Trump made fun of the affected MEM workers on Sunday on his social media network. The publication included an animated character who wrote a list of achievements from the previous week, led by “I called Trump”, “Call for Elon”, “Do it in the Office for once” and “Read some emails”.
Some federal agencies do not comply
Recently confirmed FBI Kash Patel, a candid Trump ally, instructed Bureau’s employees to ignore Musk’s request, at least for now.
“The FBI, through the Director’s service, is responsible for all our review processes and will carry out examinations in accordance with the FBI procedures,” Patel wrote in an email confirmed by AP. “When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the answers. So far, please pause all the answers. “
Ed Martin, the US temporary lawyer for Colombia County, sent his employees a message on Sunday, which could lead to more confusion. Martin noted that he responded to Musk’s order.
“Allow me to clarify: we will comply with this request to OPM, whether we are responsible or decide not to answer,” writes Martin in an email obtained by the AP, referring to the staff management service.
“Please make a bona fide effort to answer and list your activities (or not, as you prefer), and I, as I mentioned, will return to any confusion,” Martin continued. “We can do this.”
Last night, Martin had instructed the staff to comply. “Dog and Elon do a great job. Historically. We are happy to participate, “Martin wrote at the time.
Officials in the departments of the state, defense and internal security were more consistent.
Tibor Nagi, acting in the management of the management, told the employees in an email that the department’s management would respond on behalf of the workers.
“No employee is obliged to announce his activities outside the department’s command chain,” Nagy wrote in an email.
The Pentagon management instructs employees to “pause” every response to Musk’s team.
“The Ministry of Defense is responsible for the examination of the work of its staff and will perform each review in accordance with its own procedures,” according to an email from Jules Heer, the deputy defense shop for staff and readiness. “When and if necessary, the department will coordinate the answers.”
The internal security department told employees that “no action is needed at the moment” and that agencies managers will respond, according to an email from RD Alles, deputy secretary in management.
Discontinuation of jobs in government
Everett Kelly, president of 800,000 members of the US Government Federation, said in a letter Sunday to the administration that he should cancel Musk’s request and apologize to all federal workers by the end of the day.
“We believe that employees have no obligation to meet this apparently illegal email, absent another legal direction,” he wrote, describing Musk as “selected and unwavering.”
Thousands of civil servants have already been expelled from the federal workforce – either by dismissal or through an offer for “postponed resignation”. So far, there is no official figure for the general dismissals or cuts, but the AP has collected hundreds of thousands of workers who are affected.
Musk on Sunday called his latest request, “a very basic pulse check.”
“The reason is important that a significant number of people who have to work for the government do so little work that they do not check their email at all!” Musk wrote to X. “In some cases, we believe that the non -existent people or the identity of the dead is used to collect salaries. In other words, there is an outspoken fraud. “
He did not provide evidence of such fraud. Separately, Musk and Trump falsely claim that in recent days tens of millions of dead over 100 years have received social security payments.
In the meantime, thousands of other employees are preparing to leave the federal workforce this week, including test civilian workers in the Pentagon and all but part of the US Agency for International Developers of Development by Dreashers or Leaving.
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Peoples report from New York. Associated Press Writers Byron Tau, Ellen Knikmayer, Matthew Perone and Tara Kop in Washington and Valerie Gonzalez in McAlan, Texas, have contributed to this report.