Elon Musk at the first meeting of President Trump’s Cabinet defended his email demanding all federal workers report their accomplishments to his office, calling it a “pulse check” and saying anyone with a heart beat and neurons could complete it.
Musk said he asked all federal employees to send in emails on their accomplishments as proof people who are collecting paychecks are actually working. Musk has argued his efforts are rooted in eliminating waste and fraud in the government.
He said the email was not a personnel review “but a pulse review” and that anyone who was not dead could answer it.
“There are fictional individuals collecting paychecks,” Musk said of the government, though he did not offer specific evidence that people are fraudulently getting paychecks. “Are they alive and can they write an email?”
Musk, the world’s richest man, was dominant at the opening of the Cabinet meeting, offering a number of sharp comments toward the federal workforce while standing and taking questions from the press.
Musk, who is not a member of Trump’s formal Cabinet, did so as Trump’s Cabinet secretaries sat at their desks in the White House’s Roosevelt Room.
It was impossible to tell how much some of the Cabinet members agreed or disagree with Musk’s comments through their facial expressions and body language, though any public disagreements with Trump would be unexpected.
“Is anyone unhappy with Elon? If you are, we’ll throw them out of here,” Trump asked the room at one point, eliciting some chuckles.
Trump also defended Musk’s email, which several officials, including FBI head Kash Patel and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, told their staff not to answer.
The Office of Personal Management, essentially the HR office of the federal government, on Monday had said responses to Musk’s demand for five bullet points outlining their weekly accomplishments were voluntary.
“I can tell you everything I’ve done for the last—long period of time,” Trump said. “We have a mandate to do this. And this part of the reason I got elected.”
“Those millions of people who haven’t responded they’re on the bubble,” the president added. “I wouldn’t say they wouldn’t exist.”
It is definitely clear that Trump and Musk want to drastically cut the federal workforce.
Moments before the Cabinet meeting, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent a memo directing agencies across government to turn over plans for widespread layoffs of federal employees by March 13.
It provided more specific guidance after a Feb. 11 executive order from Trump mandating layoffs, requiring agencies to break down their plans for a reduction in force and broader restructuring of their agencies.
