Musk to attend US cabinet meets as workers brace

Reuters :

Elon Musk, the billionaire adviser tasked with radically downsizing the US government, will attend President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting on Wednesday as turmoil continues to swirl around his plans to fire federal workers.

The meeting comes amid a tug-of-war between Musk and Trump, and officials in the US government in what has become an early test of Musk’s authority.

Musk is not a cabinet officer, but no one in the president’s circle has wielded more influence in Trump’s early weeks.

Musk’s email directive that all federal workers detail their accomplishments or face losing their jobs plunged the government into chaos after some agencies told their employees to comply with his demand and others said they could ignore it.

Even after the US Office of Personnel Management, the agency that oversees the federal bureaucracy, told workers they need not respond to Musk’s email, Trump and his allies seemed to suggest workers may be better off if they complied with Musk’s wishes.

Musk on Saturday said federal workers must list five things they did during the week or risk termination and gave them a 48-hour deadline to respond via email.