WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump expressed his backing for Elon Musk regarding his demand for federal employees to report their recent achievements by the end of Monday or face potential termination. This directive has led to new lawsuits and heightened unrest among the government workforce.

During a meeting in the Oval Office with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump remarked, “What he’s doing is essentially asking, ‘Are you actually putting in the effort?’” He added, “If you don’t respond, you’re either being semi-fired or completely fired, as many are not replying because they might not even exist.”

The Republican president claimed that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has uncovered “hundreds of billions of dollars in fraudulent payments,” implying that the federal payroll may be compensating non-existent individuals. However, he did not provide supporting evidence for these assertions.

“If individuals fail to respond, it’s quite likely that they do not exist, or they’re not performing their jobs,” Trump asserted.

On Monday, legal representatives for unions, businesses, veterans, and environmental organizations submitted an updated lawsuit in a California federal court, claiming Musk’s demand violates legal regulations. The Office of Personnel Management, which serves as the federal government’s human resources agency, instructed employees to summarize five tasks they accomplished the prior week by the end of Monday.

This lawsuit, led by the State Democracy Defenders Fund, labeled the threat of mass firings as “one of the largest employment frauds this country has ever seen.”

The White House criticized this legal action, with Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly stating, “In the time these taxpayer-funded employees took to file a baseless lawsuit, they could have easily summarized their weekly achievements to their managers as is standard practice in the private sector.”

Musk is driving Trump’s initiatives to restructure and reduce the size of the federal government, causing significant disruption by encouraging staff resignations, discontinuing probationary employees, and pausing operations in several agencies.

Despite this, some indications suggest Musk might be overstepping his authority, as certain administration officials advised employees to disregard his requests. This marked a notable public difference between Musk and Senate-confirmed Cabinet members, who have generally shown enthusiasm for pursuing his agenda.

Trump dismissed notions of any discord involving his prominent advisor, stating, “They’re not opposing Elon in any harmful way,” and emphasized that “everyone viewed it as quite a clever approach.”

The Office of Personnel Management refrained from commenting on the ongoing situation while Musk continued to issue threats regarding layoffs for federal workers amidst this confusion. On his social media platform, X, he warned, “Those who fail to take this email seriously will soon be moving their careers elsewhere.”

The recent uproar began over the weekend when Trump posted a message on his social media platform, saying, “ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE.”

Musk indicated that “all federal employees will soon receive an email asking for a summary of their accomplishments from the previous week,” asserting that “failure to respond will be viewed as a resignation.” This approach is akin to how Musk typically manages his own businesses.

The Office of Personnel Management subsequently issued its own directive, asking, “Please reply to this email with approximately five bullet points outlining what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.” However, this communication did not mention the possibility of termination for those who do not comply, with the deadline set for 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday.

Several key U.S. agencies, including the FBI, State Department, Homeland Security, and the Pentagon, quickly mobilized in resistance, instructing their personnel over the weekend to avoid responding to Musk’s demand. Politicians from both parties expressed concerns that Musk’s mandate could be illegal.

Monday morning, employees in the Justice Department received a message indicating they didn’t have to reply due to the confidential nature of their work.

Meanwhile, attorneys in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington were told to respond “in general terms” while omitting case-sensitive details. According to an email reviewed by the Associated Press, guidelines were provided for detailing the number of court hearings attended, defendants charged, cases resolved, or other relevant tasks.

In a message sent early Sunday, the Department of Health and Human Services, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., directed its 80,000 employees to comply. This followed an earlier instruction from acting general counsel Sean Keveney, who advised some not to respond. By Sunday evening, new directions were issued from agency leadership to “pause activities” related to the request until noon Monday.

Keveney expressed his discontent in an email, stating, “After putting in over 70 hours last week advancing Administration’s priorities, I found it personally insulting to receive such communication,” acknowledging a prevalent sense of “uncertainty and stress” within the department. He also highlighted security concerns and mentioned that some of their work could fall under attorney-client privilege.

On Monday morning, employees at the Education Department were instructed to comply with the request. “The email is genuine, and employees are expected to respond,” wrote Rachel Oglesby, the department’s chief of staff.

FBI Director Kash Patel, a prominent Trump supporter recently confirmed by the Senate, advised staff to initially ignore Musk’s request.

“The FBI’s review processes will be conducted under the direction of the Office of the Director, and should any additional information be necessary, we will coordinate our response. For now, please refrain from providing any responses,” Patel conveyed in an email.

In the initial month of Trump’s second term, thousands of government employees have already been ousted from the federal workforce through terminations or deferred resignation offers. Though no official count of dismissals exists, the AP has reported that hundreds of thousands have been impacted, many of them based outside Washington.

On Sunday, Musk referred to the latest request as “a very basic pulse check.”

“This is important because there are a notable number of individuals who are meant to be working for the government but are contributing so little that they aren’t even checking their emails!” Musk stated on X. “In certain instances, we suspect that non-existent individuals or deceased individuals’ identities are being used to collect government paychecks.”

He has yet to provide any evidence to support these claims. In separate statements, both Musk and Trump have falsely alleged recently that millions of deceased people over the age of 100 are receiving Social Security benefits.

Additionally, many other employees are preparing to exit the federal workforce in the coming week, including probationary civilian workers at the Pentagon and nearly all staff members at the U.S. Agency for International Development due to cuts or furloughs.

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Contributors to this report include Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in New York, Eric Tucker, Amanda Seitz, Byron Tau, Ellen Knickmeyer, Matthew Perrone, Alanna Durkin Richer, and Tara Copp in Washington, along with Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas.