Daijiworld Media Network - Washington

Washington, Feb 25: The email dispute between tech mogul Elon Musk and the Trump administration escalated further on Tuesday as Musk renewed his warning to federal employees who failed to respond to his controversial email requesting recent accomplishments.

Musk, tasked with cutting government spending, had initially set a Monday deadline for responses. However, after several agencies, including the FBI, State Department, and Pentagon, advised employees not to comply, he issued a fresh ultimatum.

"Subject to the discretion of the president, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination," Musk stated.

Musk took to social media to criticize the lack of response, saying, "The email request was utterly trivial. Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers."

While the White House has yet to officially comment, President Donald Trump defended Musk’s initiative during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. Calling it a "great" move, Trump remarked, "What he (Musk) is doing is saying, 'Are you actually working?'... And if you don’t answer, you're sort of semi-fired, or you're fired."

The controversy erupted after nearly 3 million government employees received an official email on Saturday asking them to submit bullet-point summaries of their work over the past week. Though the email itself did not outline penalties, Musk later posted that failure to respond "will be taken as a resignation."

The directive caused widespread confusion, with agencies like Homeland Security, National Intelligence (under Tulsi Gabbard), and the FBI (under Kash Patel) instructing employees to refrain from responding. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department encouraged compliance, while others labeled the email "voluntary."

This latest development comes as the Trump administration accelerates efforts to reduce government spending by downsizing the federal workforce. Earlier this month, thousands of employees accepted a buyout offer that allows them to collect salaries until September 2025.