Elon Musk continues to assert his power and influence with President Donald Trump, and a new report details how the tech mogul and his allies have taken “control” of the Office of Personnel Management and skipped past key officials to release an email asking federal workers to resign.
More than 2.3 million government employees were sent an email last week offering buyouts to anyone who voluntarily leaves their job in an effort to significantly reduce the federal workforce.
The style of the email, entitled “Fork in the Road,” mimics that of one Musk sent to Twitter employees in 2022 when he bought the company, now known as X.
Officials within the Office of Personnel Management - an HR-type agency for the government - were reportedly “blindsided” by the memo, believed to be heavily influenced by billionaire Musk.
The Office of Personnel Management is a nonpartisan agency that manages the federal workforce, and would typically be consulted ahead of significant personnel changes. They were not informed of this proposal, people familiar with the situation told The Washington Post.
In the weeks since Trump took office, Musk has moved to take control of the office, according to the Post. He visited the office on Friday and put several of his longtime allies in key positions.
That includes Anthony Armstrong, who helped Musk buy Twitter, according to the Post. Others include Brian Bjelde from SpaceX and Amanda Scales who worked at a Musk AI firm. The trio are now in leadership positions in the office.
Musk’s team also built the system that sent the email to federal workers - a system that did not exist before Trump took office, the Post noted.
It is the latest signal that Musk’s role in Trump’s new administration reaches far beyond his position leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
DOGE was initially pitched as an advisory committee to function outside of the government and suggest spending cutbacks but through an executive order. Trump replaced the U.S. Digital Service office with DOGE. Musk was also supposed to co-chair that with Vivek Ramaswamy, but now has sole control.
Musk’s role in upending the federal workforce and reshaping it to fall more in line with Trump’s agenda has transformed his advisory role into something much larger.
In turn, some federal employees are skeptical of the buyout offer.
Musk has encountered legal issues with many former employees. A former Tesla executive is suing Musk after the company allowed him to work remotely but then threatened to fire him if he did not relocate
Thousands of former Twitter employees unsuccessfully sued Musk claiming he did not pay at least $500 million in severance after he conducted a mass layoff at the company.
The Office of Personnel Management offer claims to pay workers' salaries through September 30 and says they do not have to return to work. However, questions remain on whether the offer will hold up to scrutiny.
The Independent has asked the Office of Personnel Management for comment.
