1 million federal administration employees may lose work

About 1 million federal employees can lose their jobs as they did not respond to Elon Musk's request to explain what they had done in the last week. President Donald Trump stated on Monday that those who do not respond may be considered fired.

« We are trying to figure out if people are working, » Trump from the White House said during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. « If someone doesn't answer, maybe it doesn't either exist or just doesn't work. »

The email, sent by the Personnel Management Office, demanded that 2 million employees submit a list of five things they had done last week. While the email was introduced as an optional, Musk-now the head of the government efficiency department, said on the X platform: « Non-response will be taken as resignation. »

Trump fully supported Musk's approach, calling the idea « genius » and suggesting that it was part of a broader attempt to fight fraud and reduce bureaucracy. « We have found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud so far, and we've just started, » he said.

Meanwhile, some federal agency executives, including the new FBI director, Kash Patel, urged employees not to respond, raising concerns about the legality and ethics of the claim. But Trump and Musk are moving the move forward, with the president who even hinted to visit Knox to control the US gold reserves: « Maybe someone has stolen gold, tons of gold, » he said.

The move has caused strong reactions within the administration, with many officials warning of a major crisis in the ranks of federal employees. It still remains unclear what will happen to those who refuse to respond, but one thing is for sure: the Trump administration seems determined to « clear » the government from those who are considered unnecessary.