Trump live: Chaos reigns as Musk threatens more workers by email but agencies told responding is ‘voluntary’
Donald Trump’s administration remains mired in chaos after Elon Musk issued a new ultimatum on Monday night giving federal workers one more chance to reply to his email threatening their jobs after multiple agency heads told their staff to ignore him.
With just hours to go before the proclaimed midnight deadline for his first ultimatum, the mercurial billionaire renewed his demand for government employees to tell him the five things they accomplished last week – or be fired.
The latest warning came shortly after the Trump administration’s Office of Personnel (OPM) – effectively the federal government’s central Human Resources department – told agencies that responding to Musk’s edict was “voluntary.”
By then several agencies had already told employees to ignore the demand.
Musk apparently left himself a path to back off from his latest ultimatum by saying it was “subject to the discretion of the President,” creating even more chaos and confusion for workers.
Trump was joined at the White House on Monday by French President Emmanuel Macron, with the two men offering a show of unity over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and both expressing their desire to see the three-year conflict brought to an end.
