Musk's ‘what Did You Do Last Week?’ Email Hits A Million Replies

More than a million federal employees responded to last weekend’s controversial email — amplified by Elon Musk in a threatening post on X — demanding a list of five things they did on the job last week.

The White House, eager to present the email demand as part of its coordinated attempt to dramatically scale down the size of the federal government, made that announcement at Tuesday’s press briefing.

“All federal workers should be working at the same pace as President Trump is working and moving,” Leavitt said. “This is to ensure that federal workers are not ripping off American taxpayers, that they are showing up to the office and that they are doing their jobs. And it’s a very simple task to complete.”

That amounts to roughly a third of the federal workforce, which numbers about 3 million.

Leavitt’s announcement was, to a large degree, a response to several days of confusion following the Saturday evening email, which Musk said required a response from all federal workers and that failing to reply would be viewed as a resignation.

Many federal agencies, especially those in the national security space, quickly told their workforces not to reply. And other agencies have sought to clarify that replying is voluntary, assuring workers that not doing so would not result in their termination.

But the relatively high response rate suggests many workers, amid the conflicting guidance, decided to err on the side of compliance to avoid the chance they might lose their jobs.

The news from the White House also came just hours after 21 people working for Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency resigned, reportedly no longer willing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.” The Associated Press was first to report on the resignations.

Although Musk’s ongoing purge of the federal workforce has drawn legal challenges and, in multiple instances, unthinkingly fired employees critical to national security and public safety that agencies then sought to quickly rehire, Trump and allies remain committed to the efforts broadly and believe that there is strong public support for shrinking government.

Presidential counselor Alina Habba, speaking to reporters Tuesday morning outside the West Wing, suggested that the outcry over DOGE’s efforts, specifically the email asking employees to demonstrate productivity to their superiors, was “ridiculous.”

“Look at all of you standing here asking me why people are upset to answer to their boss, the American people and the president of the United States, what you've done at work,” Habba said. “What a ridiculous thing.”

Holly Otterbein contributed to this report.