Authorities refuse

Musk emphasizes threat

Elon Musk is sticking to his guns despite the headwind: anyone who does not respond to his "What did you do last week" email is threatened with dismissal.(Bild: AP/Susan Walsh, twitter.com/elonmusk/Krone KREATIV)

Just a few days ago, tech billionaire and Trump stooge Elon Musk threatened 2.3 million US government employees with dismissal if they did not disclose what they "got done last week". However, several US government agencies and ministries are refusing to comply with his demand for proof of performance. Musk remains firm: no answer means termination! Trump supports him in this.

A threat by tech billionaire Elon Musk to dismiss civil servants has caused confusion over the weekend. Musk wants to see proof of employment from them within a set deadline - otherwise they should leave.

A number of US authorities instructed their employees not to reply to an email from Musk to this effect.

• The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which oversees the 2.3 million employees of the US federal government, informed all federal employees that they can ignore the email from Trump's "efficiency commissioner". The latter, on the other hand, is asking employees to respond by 11.59 pm on Monday.

• Employees who do not respond in detail could lose their jobs, according to Musk. However, according to an internal Justice Department email, the US Office of Personnel Management told federal human resources officials that employees would not be fired if they did not respond to Musk's email. They were under no obligation to do so.

• The government employees' union (AFGE) also took legal action against the instruction, as court documents show. 

Musk, however, remains firm. He writes on X (see post below): "Subject to the President's discretion, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination."

Elon Musk's "boss", US President Donald Trump, had not commented on the uproar until the meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Trump: "People don't answer because they don't exist"
 "What he's doing is saying, 'Are you actually working? "And if you don't answer, you're sort of half fired or you're fired because a lot of people don't answer because they don't exist," the Associated Press reported. He also claimed that Musk's department had already uncovered "hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud". For example, paychecks had been sent to employees of federal agencies that did not even exist. He did not provide any evidence.

On Saturday, however, Trump backed Musk and wrote on Truth Social that the tech billionaire was doing a "great job" and that he wanted to see him take even more "aggressive" action.