• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Donald Trump issues stern warning to federal workers who don't respond to Elon Musk's controversial email

Home> News> Politics

Published 10:08 25 Feb 2025 GMT

Donald Trump issues stern warning to federal workers who don't respond to Elon Musk's controversial email

Donald Trump has a bizarre theory about why some federal workers aren't responding to Elon Musk's email

Liv Bridge

Liv Bridge

The president has now weighed in on Elon Musk's controversial email with a stark warning to federal employees.

On Saturday (February 22), two million federal employees received a threatening email from Donald Trump's 'First Buddy', which demanded they outlined five tasks they'd completed in the last week - or else face not having a job to return to.

Musk, who heads up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force, sent the email with a deadline of 11.59pm, Monday (February 24), and said those who failed to respond on time would be interpreted by the government as notice of their resignation.

Trump appears to be backing Musk's controversial email (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Trump appears to be backing Musk's controversial email (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Advert

The demand sent federal teams into a frenzy over the weekend with many department leaders, such as FBI director, Kash Patel, advising staff not to respond.

Another Pentagon official said it was the 'silliest thing' in their 40-year-long career.

But the billionaire tech mogul doubled down on his email, saying he wanted to identify 'who had a pulse and two working neurons' and to see who in the workforce actually checked their emails.

The 53-year-old also lashed out at the 'incompetence' of staff who didn't respond to the 'utterly trivial' request by the deadline on Monday night and gave them a fresh ultimatum.

Advert

Musk wrote on Twitter: "The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send! Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers."

The pair are reportedly close friends (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
The pair are reportedly close friends (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

"Have you ever witnessed such INCOMPETENCE and CONTEMPT for how YOUR TAXES are," he added.

The President also appeared to have supported the SpaceX founder's plan, saying there was a 'lot of genius' to the email on Monday.

Advert

Musk subsequently posted that the deadline has been extended 'subject to the discretion of the president'.

"[T]hey will be given another chance," he wrote while reiterating those who fail or ignore them email 'will result in [their] termination'.

President Trump has now spoken out about the situation during a meeting with French president, Emmanuel Macron.

Trump said: "We're trying to find out if people are working, and so we're sending a letter to people: Please tell us what you did last week.

Advert

"If people don't respond, it's very possible that there is no such person or they're not working. And then if you don’t answer, like you’re sort of semi-fired, or you're fired, because a lot of people are not answering because they don't even exist."

The president's backing comes as Musk's DOGE is on a cost-cutting mission, which includes axing staff to reduce the size of the bureaucracy.

It also comes as Trump instructed the Tesla boss to 'get more aggressive'.

According to NBC, DOGE plans on taking the data from the email responses and putting them into an AI system to check what employees are doing are 'mission-critical'.

Featured Image Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Topics: Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Space X, Politics, Technology, Business

Liv Bridge
Liv Bridge

Liv Bridge is a digital journalist who joined the UNILAD team in 2024 after almost three years reporting local news for a Newsquest UK paper, The Oldham Times. She's passionate about health, housing, food and music, especially Oasis...

X

@livbridge

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • an hour ago

    Flesh-eating bacteria leaves 4 people dead in Florida as health officials issue warning

    The deaths occurred across four Florida counties

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Man who lured victims for the 'Candy Man' serial killer speaks out for the first time

    Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. was a teenager when he began working with Dean Corll

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    People are discovering dark meaning behind Nike’s 'Just Do It' slogan

    It has nothing to do with Shia LaBeouf's motivational speech

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Royal Caribbean issues statement after mystery illness takes over ship travelling from USA to Mexico

    The CDC is investigating the cause of the breakout

    News
  • Employment lawyer reveals three major problems with Elon Musk's email to all federal workers with ultimatum
  • Donald Trump finally discloses what Elon Musk's real job is for the federal government
  • Elon Musk gives new ultimatum after federal workers email sparks outrage
  • Elon Musk reveals reason why all federal workers just received an email with an ultimatum