White House claims ‘more than 1 million’ federal workers responded to Doge’s ultimatum email – live…..See More

Trump press secretary says agency heads will ‘determine the best practices’ for dealing with the Doge ‘what did you do this week’ email

Coral Murphy Marcos (now); Lucy Campbell, Léonie Chao-Fong and Jane Clinton (earlier)

More than 1 million’ federal workers have responded to Doge’s ‘what did you do last week’ email, White House claims
Asked when is the deadline referred to in Elon Musk’s deadline second email to federal workers, Leavitt says agency heads will “determine the best practices for their employees at their specific agencies”.

“The secretaries are responsible for their specific workforce, and this is true of the hirings and the firings that have taken place,” she says.

She adds that unless their agency has told them not to, workers should reply to the email.

She claims more than a million workers have so far responded, including herself.

It took me about a minute and a half to think of five things I did last week. I do five things in about ten minutes, and all federal workers should be working at the same pace that President Trump is working.

John Thune, the Senate majority leader, is defending the Trump administration’s cuts to federal workers and programs, calling them a long overdue “scrub” of the federal government.

Still, the Republican from South Dakota acknowledged that the reductions are affecting the home states of GOP senators.

“I think we all understand that this government, the federal government, is long in need of the kind of scrub that is being done to figure out how we can do things better,” Thune said at the Capitol.

He said that senators would make the Trump administration aware if programs, such as those that impact health and safety, are at risk.