From the latest in Musk’s fight to fire federal workers to concern over appointment of Dan Bongino – key US politics stories from Monday at a glanceConfusion continued on Monday over the demands made by Elon Musk of federal workers. Just hours after the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had directed agencies that responses to its email were optional, Musk again threatened federal workers. He wrote on X, the platform he owns: “Subject to the discretion of the president, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.” President Donald Trump backed Musk earlier Monday, two days after OPM initially sent an email asking federal workers to list five things they accomplished last week. Several government agencies, including the FBI and state department, have told their employees not to respond.Here are the biggest stories in US politics on Monday, 24 February. Continue reading...

Politics

OPM says failure to respond to email will not be considered resignation but Trump ally digs in and threatens job lossesThe US government’s human resources office has walked back an ultimatum issued by Elon Musk that would have forced its workers to resign if they did not submit a bullet-point list of their recent accomplishments, in one of the first signs of internal pushback to the Tesla billionaire’s campaign to downsize the federal workforce.The demand, made in an email sent to million of government employees over the weekend and quickly sued over by a coalition of labor and advocacy groups, represented the latest salvo by the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), the Trump-sanctioned cost-cutting initiative Musk chairs. Continue reading...

Politics

Elon Musk plans to use a controversial method to judge federal workers' response to the DOGE chairman's 'what did you do last week?' email request to determine which employees to fire.

Politics

FBI head Kash Patel tells agents to ‘pause’ responses to order as unnamed Pentagon official calls it ‘silliest thing in 40 years’US politics live – latest updatesLabor unions and advocacy groups have asked a federal court to prevent retaliation against government employees, after Elon Musk issued an ultimatum demanding they detail in bullet points what they do at their jobs or face dismissal.The weekend email sent to millions of employees was the latest salvo in Musk’s campaign, authorized by Donald Trump, to dramatically downsize the federal government. Over the weekend, a coalition of groups opposed to the mass layoffs asked a court to prevent reprisals against employees who fail to reply by the deadline of Monday at midnight. Continue reading...

Events

DOGE boss Elon Musk’s demand has faced resistance from several key US agencies led by the president's loyalists

Politics

Tulsi Gabbard has joined Kash Patel and a growing list of department heads who have said to ignore 'First Buddy' Elon Musk's demand that federal workers explain what they accomplished each week.

Politics

Musk has asked all federal employees to explain what they’ve been working on or resign – a method to keep all leaders on the same page

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Agency reportedly seeking guidance from DoJ as Musk’s demand sparks confusion across key government agenciesThe new FBI director, Kash Patel, has told his agency employees to hold off on responding to an email from the Donald Trump administration asking them to list their accomplishments in the last week as tech billionaire Elon Musk expands his crusade to slash the federal government’s size.Hundreds of thousands of federal workers had been given little more than 48 hours to explain what they achieved to the office of personnel management (OPM), sparking confusion across key agencies that included the US’s top law enforcement agency. Continue reading...

Events

‘Cruel and disrespectful’ request to employees sparks confusion across key government agenciesHundreds of thousands of federal workers have been given little more than 48 hours to explain what they accomplished over the past week, sparking confusion across key agencies as the tech billionaire Elon Musk expands his crusade to slash the size of government.Musk, who serves as President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting chief, telegraphed the extraordinary request on his social media network on Saturday. Continue reading...

Events

President and first lady hosted the nation’s governors for an annual dinner at White House after Trump gave keynote speech at CPAC

Politics

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have little more than 48 hours to explain what they accomplished over the last week

Politics