Elon Musk says federal employees must email ‘what they got done last week’

Elon Musk suggested Saturday that all federal employees will be required to report what "they got done" last week at work, and that a failure to respond would result in a loss of job. 

Here’s what to know:

Elon Musk tweet

What they're saying:

Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that all federal employees will be asked to report "what they got done last week," and that failure to reply would be considered a resignation.

"Consistent with President Trump's instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week," his tweet reads. 

"Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation," it continued. 

Earlier on Saturday, President Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Musk was "doing a great job" but that he’d like to see him "get more aggressive." 

Musk responded, "Will do, Mr. President!" several hours before posting about the email that would be sent to federal employees. 

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Email to federal employees

What we know:

Musk said an email was going to federal employees that would request information about "what they did" last week.

An anonymous source sent screenshots of the email to FOX Television Stations. The email requests "approximately five bullets of what you accomplished last week," and that the employees cc their manager. 

The email says the deadline is Monday at 11:59 p.m. EST. 

The email did not appear to immediately reference a threatened job loss by assumed resignation, as Musk previously mentioned in his tweet. 

What we don't know:

It's not known who among the federal employees received the email. The Associated Press reported the email was sent to personnel including some judges, court staff and federal prison officials.

Trump firing federal employees

The backstory:

Layoffs and firings have affected many federal departments in recent weeks. 

Since Donald Trump took office in January, one of his top priorities has been cutting and reorganizing spending within the federal government.

The president has tapped billionaire businessman Elon Musk to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been tasked with finding and prioritizing what to cut. Thousands of federal government employees have been laid off or fired in the process.

By the numbers:

The federal government consists of about 2.4 million civilians. 20% of them live in the Washington, D.C. region. 

There is no official figure available for the total firings or layoffs, but The Associated Press has confirmed, or learned via sources, and reported the following number of firings in these departments:

• Agriculture Department: Layoffs of about 2,000 "probationary, non-firefighting employees" were expected
• Defense Department: 5,400 probationary workers
• Department of Health and Human Services: About 700 probationary employees with the CDC, and others at other agencies
• Department of Homeland Security: 405 probationary staffers
• Department of Veterans Affairs: 1,000 employees serving for less than two years
• Education Department: At least 39 people
• Energy Department: As many as 350 employees
• Inspectors general: At least 17
• Internal Revenue Service: Cuts are expected soon for thousands of probationary workers, according to sources
• Justice Department: More than a dozen career employees
• National Park Service: About 1,000 newly-hired employees

What they're saying:

According to the agency’s website, as of Feb. 17, 2025, DOGE estimates its savings around $55 billion. The agency attributes this to "a combination of fraud detection/deletion, contract/lease cancelations, contract/lease renegotiations, asset sales, grant cancelations, workforce reductions, programmatic changes, and regulatory savings."

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Elon MuskDonald J. TrumpU.S.Politics