Karoline Leavitt Shares Email With 5 Bullet Points She Sent To Musk, DOGE

More than half of the federal workforce — over one million employees — have responded to Elon Musk’s directive asking them to list “five things they worked on last week,” according to the White House.

The message, delivered by email to federal employees on Saturday, gave them a deadline of Monday at 11:59 p.m. to submit their responses. Musk warned on X that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

However, on Monday evening, Musk softened his stance, offering workers a second chance to comply.

“I can announce that we’ve had more than 1 million workers who have chosen to participate in this very simple task of, again, sending five bullet points to your direct supervisor or manager,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during a press briefing.

Leavitt backed Musk’s approach, mentioning that she had personally provided a list of her own work tasks within the press office.

“I do five things in about 10 minutes, and all federal workers should be working at the same pace that President Trump is working and moving,” she stated. “We have a country to save, and we want this federal government to be responsive to the needs of the American people.”

Here’s some context:

The Trump administration’s records indicate that the federal government currently employs around 2.4 million people, not counting active-duty military or Postal Service workers.

Musk’s directive came after President Trump instructed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to aggressively reform federal operations.

According to Leavitt, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO “thought” sending the email was a constructive move, though each agency’s leadership ultimately decides whether or not their employees should report their lists to DOGE.

Musk was also expected to attend Trump’s initial Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, but Leavitt clarified that only department heads have the authority to fire federal employees. While Musk oversees DOGE, the department itself isn’t actually a formal government agency.

Following Musk’s X post threatening job losses for noncompliance, several agency heads promptly advised their employees to ignore the directive, citing security concerns.

On Monday, the Office of Personnel Management sent a follow-up email clarifying that Musk’s request was entirely “voluntary” and that failure to submit lists would not lead to termination.

Musk responded by announcing workers would receive a “second chance” to comply — but warned it would be the final opportunity.

“The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!” Musk mocked on X. “Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers.”

“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance,” Musk added in a follow-up post. “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”

The back-and-forth left many federal workers unsure whether to follow Trump’s ally or their direct supervisors.

On Monday, President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “I thought it was great because we have people who don’t show up to work and nobody even knows if they work for the government.” Trump defended Musk’s demand for employees to share their “five accomplishments.”

“What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’” Trump explained.

“Well, it’s somewhat voluntary, but it’s also, if you don’t answer, I guess you get fired,” Trump added.

“They’re not allowed to be working for us and be working for somebody else. We’re paying them a lot of money, paying them. So we’ll see if that solves the problem,” Trump concluded.