Presidential adviser Elon Musk will be present at US President Donald Trump’s first official cabinet meeting on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday, rejecting any suggestion of rifts within the administration, and saying that everyone was “working as one team”.
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The news comes as US federal workers faced fresh uncertainty about their futures after Musk gave them “another chance” to respond to his ultimatum that they justify their jobs or risk termination, contradicting guidance from some Trump administration officials that the request was voluntary.
The confusing back-and-forth has rippled through the federal bureaucracy, with some agencies instructing workers to comply and others not. It has become a test of how much power Musk wields over the government’s operations as he pursues an unprecedented cost-cutting campaign with Trump’s backing.
Twenty-one workers resigned from his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) in protest on Tuesday, saying they refused to aid the downsizing effort.
“We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardise Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services,” the employees wrote in a resignation posted online.
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Doge did not respond to a request for comment on the resignations.