Key institutions, including some led by Trump loyalists, refuse to comply with Musk's latest needs

NEW YORK (AP) — Major U.S. agencies, including the FBI, the State Department and the Pentagon, have instructed their employees not to comply with cost-cutting chief Elon Musk asked federal workers to explain what they achieved last week Require, or risk unemployment.

This boycott exacerbates a general sense of chaos and chaos, while highlighting the potential power struggle between President Donald Trump’s allies, which will affect federal employees across the country as a new work week is about to begin.

Musk's team sent an email to hundreds of thousands of federal employees on Saturday, with about 48 hours to report five things they did last week. Musk said in another message on X that any employee who fails to respond by the deadline (set it as Monday at 11:59 pm in an email) will lose his job.

Democrats, even some Republicans, are critical of Musk's unusual orders, which is when Trump encourages him to “more aggressive” through so-called government efficiency departments or multiple roads on social media hours. The day before, Musk celebrated his new position while waving his giant chainsaw while showing up at a conservative conference.

R-Utah Senator John Curtis is one of Trump's own party members. Utah has 33,000 federal employees.

“If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it was like double sympathy in that regard,” Curtis said. “These are real people. These are real lives. These are real lives. Mortgage. …It's a false narrative that we have to cut and you have to do it cruelly, too.”

Rep. Mike Lawler (RN.Y.

Unions threaten the lawsuit, and several agency leaders, including Trump's appointment, encourage their workers not to cooperate.

Newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel is an outspoken Trump ally directing bureau employees to ignore Musk's request, at least for now.

“The FBI is responsible for all our review procedures through the Office of the Directors and will be reviewed in accordance with the FBI process,” Patel wrote in an email confirmed by the Associated Press. “When and if more is needed,” he wrote. Information, we will coordinate responses. Now, please pause any replies.”

Ed Martin, a D.C. attorney, who was nominated for the job by the Republican president, sent a message to his staff on Sunday that could cause more confusion. Martin noted that he himself responded to the request for achievement last week.

“Let me clarify: we will comply with this OPM request, whether by replying or by deciding not to reply.”

Martin continued: “Please be honest and work hard to answer and list your activities (or you don’t like), and as I mentioned, I will support any confusion for you.”

The night before, Martin directed staff to comply with Musk's orders. “Doge and Elon did a great job. Historic. We were happy to be there,” Martin wrote at the time.

The state and Defense Department officials led by the recently confirmed Trump nominee are more direct.

Tibor Nagy's deputy management department secretary told employees in an email that department leaders will respond on behalf of the workers.

“No employee reported his activities outside of the chain of command of his department,” Najib wrote, according to an email obtained by the Associated Press.

Pentagon leaders directed employees to “suspend” any responses to Musk's team, too.

“The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and will conduct any reviews based on its own procedures,” said an email from Anads, a Jules Hurst. Personnel and ready personnel and ready. “If necessary, the department will coordinate the reply…”

Trump doesn't seem to have tolerated it.

The president posted a meme on his social media network, mocking federal employees. The Sunday Mail features cartoon characters, writing down a list of achievements from the previous week, “Crying to Trump,” “Crying to Elon,” “Enter the office at one time,” and “Read some emails.”

In the first month of Trump's second term, the White House and Doge revoked new and professional workers and told agency leaders that plans for “effective massive reductions.”

So far, no official figures are available for shooting or layoffs, but the Associated Press has beaten thousands of workers to be affected. Many jobs outside Washington have cuts including thousands of jobs in the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Health and Human Services, and the IRS and the National Park Service.

Musk said his latest request on Sunday was “a very basic pulse check.”

“It's important that many people who should work for the government do so little that they don't check their emails at all!” Musk wrote on X. “In some cases, the identity of a person or the deceased who we believe does not exist is used to collect salary. In other words, there is a total fraud.”

He did not provide evidence of such fraud. In addition, Musk and Trump have erroneously claimed in recent days that thousands of dead people over 100 years are receiving Social Security payments.

Meanwhile, thousands of other employees are preparing to leave the federal workforce this week, including trial civilian workers at the Pentagon and contractors at the U.S. International Development Agency, who received an unnamed termination letter over the weekend.

The U.S.A.I.D. move escalated a one-month government attack on an international humanitarian agency that frozen its funds, closed its headquarters in Washington, and shut down thousands of U.S. aid and development programs around the world.

A judge who temporarily blocked the freeze of foreign aid said the government had been refusing aid and had to temporarily restore funding from global plans. But another judge cleared the way for the government to pull thousands of U.S.A.I.D. staff out of work.

The workers noted that the general nature of the notice letter does not include accepting the contractor’s name or position, which may make it difficult for fired workers to obtain unemployment benefits.

Democrats accused the Republican president of sowing chaos that prevented Americans from addressing their economic concerns and reducing inflation.

D-MD Senator Chris Van Hollen said: “You asked Elon Musk to pick up the chainsaw to the federal government and important services, and there is no Article 4 of the Constitution to give it to you.” Elon Musk's authority.”

He said Musk's actions were illegal and “we need to close this illegal action.”

Curtis and Van Hollen were on CBS's Face the Nation, and Lawler appeared in ABC's “This Week.”

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Associated Press writers Byron Tau, Ellen Knickmeyer, Eric Tucker and Tara Copp in Washington do the report Contributions were made.