- Musk says he’s sending email to federal employees shortly.
- Workers may lose jobs if they fail to account for week’s work.
- Those failing to respond will be considered to have resigned.
WASHINGTON: Elon Musk, the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump, has warned that all US federal employees must provide an account of their work week or risk losing their jobs.
Musk’s drastic measure comes just hours after Trump announced the move calling for “more aggressive” tougher measures to cut government spending and eliminate waste.
“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,” said a post on X from Musk, whom Trump tapped to head the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Musk — the world’s richest person and Trump’s biggest donor — has led the effort to fire swathes of the federal workforce.
His X post did not elaborate on what was required in the work accounting, nor what the deadline would be.
Earlier on Saturday, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that Musk was “doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive.”
“Remember, we have a country to save,” the Republican leader added.
Trump has put the tech entrepreneur in charge of DOGE, tasking him with slashing public spending and tackling waste and alleged corruption.
In the latest cuts announced on Friday, the US Defence Department is to reduce its civilian workforce by at least 5% starting next week.
Trump’s administration has already begun firing many other federal workers who are on probationary status.
DOGE is a free-ranging entity run by Musk, though its cost-cutting spree has been met with pushback on several fronts and mixed court rulings.
A judge on Thursday denied a union bid to temporarily halt the firing of thousands of people.
Musk said this week he would work with Trump for as long as he “can be helpful,” as the pair dismissed concerns over possible conflicts of interest due to the tech tycoon’s government contracts.
Trump showered praise on Musk, the head of SpaceX and Tesla, in a Fox News interview, calling the billionaire “brilliant,” “honest,” and a “very good, solid businessman.”
“If there’s any conflict, he will stop it. But if he didn’t, I’d stop it,” Trump said. “We’re talking about big stuff, but he’s under a pretty big microscope. I mean, everybody’s watching him.”
Musk said DOGE was publicising its actions on its website and that the transparency would hold him accountable.
“The possibility of me getting away with something is zero percent,” Musk said. “I’m scrutinised to a ridiculous degree.”
Musk has also waded into the Ukraine conflict this week, attacking President Volodymyr Zelensky and claiming Ukrainians “despised” their president – reinforcing Trump’s criticism of the wartime leader.