Elon Musk has renewed his threat to fire federal workers who do not comply with his demand to justify their jobs.
It comes even after the Trump administration told staff that they did not have to respond.
The US agency that oversees federal employees said on Monday they could ignore a weekend email from Musk that required them to summarise their work or face losing their jobs.
The email was sent to hundreds of thousands of federal employees on Saturday giving them roughly 48 hours to report five specific things they had accomplished last week.
The directive sparked widespread confusion across the federal government and raised questions about how much actual authority Musk, the world's richest man, possesses within the administration.
Musk has been appointed to radically downsize the Government through his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
"The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!" Musk posted on X.
"Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers."
He went on: “Subject to the discretion of the president, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”
On Monday, the US Office of Personnel Management told HR officials at federal agencies that employees would not be let go for not replying to Musk's email - nor were staff required to respond to it.
The memo said responding to the email was voluntary.
But President Trump appeared to stand by Musk, saying: “I thought it was great.
"There was a lot of genius in sending it. We're trying to find out if people were working."
Democrats and even some Republicans, including Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, were critical of Mr Musk’s ultimatum.
“If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it's like, please put a dose of compassion in this,” Mr Curtis, whose state has 33,000 federal employees, said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages. ... It's a false narrative to say we have to cut and you have to be cruel to do it as well.”
Newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel, an outspoken Trump ally, instructed employees to ignore Mr Musk's request, at least for now.
“The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures,” Mr Patel wrote in an email confirmed by the AP. “When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.”
