Elon Musk says ‘bar is very low’ after ordering federal employees to fill out productivity reports or resign
Billionaire Elon Musk said Saturday that “the bar is very low” after announcing that all federal employees must report their productivity if they wish to keep their jobs. Musk, a senior advisor to President Donald Trump, said earlier on Saturday that employees will receive an email giving them a chance to explain how productive they were the previous week. If an employee fails to respond to the email, Musk said the government will interpret that as a resignation. “Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk wrote on X. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.” Later on Saturday, Musk said the report should take under five minutes for employees to write. The deadline to respond to the email is 11:59 p.m. Monday. ELON MUSK SAYS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES MUST FILL OUT PRODUCTIVITY REPORTS OR RESIGN “To be clear, the bar is very low here. An email with some bullet points that make any sense at all is acceptable! Should take less than 5 mins to write,” Musk wrote on X. In another post, Musk responded to the White House’s Rapid Response account in which it laid out what the administration has done in the last week, which included Trump signing executive orders to expand access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and to end benefits for illegal immigrants. “That would be a very impressive and long list indeed for you!” Musk responded. “However, the passing grade is literally just ‘Can you send an email with words that make any sense at all?’” he continued. “It’s a low bar.” A spokesperson from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) confirmed Musk’s plans. “As part of the Trump Administration’s commitment to an efficient and accountable federal workforce, OPM is asking employees to provide a brief summary of what they did last week by the end of Monday, CC’ing their manager,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Agencies will determine any next steps.” New FBI Director Kash Patel, however, has instructed agency employees not to respond yet to the OPM email, according to ABC News. “FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information,” Patel told employees. “The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures. When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses. Thank you, Kash Patel.” WHITE HOUSE OUTLINES WHERE DOGE SAVINGS COULD GO AFTER TRUMP FLOATS RETURNING 20% TO AMERICANS The American Federation of Government Employees labor union said it plans to “challenge any unlawful terminations of our members and federal employees across the country.” “It is cruel and disrespectful for federal employees to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life,” the union wrote on X. The productivity reports came as the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency continues efforts to cut suspected waste across the federal government. Fox News’ Andrea Margolis and Patrick Ward contributed to this report.
Following key wins, Trump poised for cabinet completion in record time
The Senate GOP has been working in overdrive to confirm key officials for President Donald Trump’s administration faster than his predecessors. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Republicans in the upper chamber have successfully approved 18 of the 22 Cabinet positions. The most recent was former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was confirmed to lead Trump’s Small Business Administration (SBA). SCOOP: REPUBLICAN DANIEL CAMERON BLASTED BY LIKELY GOP OPPONENT AS MCCONNELL SUCCESSOR FIGHT BEGINS With the successful confirmation of Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick last week, the 17th official put in place, Republicans and Trump officially outpaced former President Joe Biden, who had just seven nominees confirmed at the same point in 2021. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso’s office pointed out that former President Barack Obama had only 16 Cabinet officials confirmed by February 18, 2009, during his first term, meaning that Trump outpaced him as well with Lutnick’s confirmation. His office noted that 17 Cabinet nominees were not confirmed for Obama in 2009 until he had been in office for 36 days, citing official congressional records. Biden did not see 17 Cabinet nominees confirmed for 56 days. KASH PATEL’S CONFIRMATION AS TRUMP FBI PICK ‘WILL HAUNT YOU,’ SENATE DEMS WARN GOP AHEAD OF VOTE The GOP-led Senate confirmed Kash Patel as FBI director last week, giving Trump another win, even though Patel is not a member of the president’s Cabinet. “By the end of today, we will have confirmed 18 of President Trump’s nominees. These nominees are bold and well-qualified,” Barrasso said on the Senate floor before Patel’s vote. “That is more nominees than President Obama had in 2009. It is more than President Biden had in 2021. More than twice as many,” he said. “Americans voted for a bold, new direction in Washington. Senate Republicans are delivering it,” he said. FETTERMAN LOSES TWO TOP STAFFERS AS HE MAKES WAVES BY BUCKING DEMOCRATIC PARTY While they still have a handful of Cabinet nominees left to confirm, the approval of Patel marked a crucial accomplishment for the party, as they officially put in place each of the president’s most controversial picks. Trump nominated Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard and Patel, each of whom managed to lose the support of at least one Republican. SCOOP: TOP GOP SEN. COTTON TO MEET WITH EMBATTLED TRUMP DEFENSE NOMINEE AS DOUBTS SWIRL And while their confirmations were at some points uphill battles for the administration, each of them successfully got past the finish line. Those still left to be confirmed to Trump’s Cabinet are Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Secretary, of Labor Linda McMahon for Secretary of Education, U.S. Trade Representative nominee Jamieson Greer and Elise Stefanik to be ambassador to the United Nations.
Top GOP recruit for crucial 2026 Senate race hints when he will make an announcement
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia is well aware that plenty of people are waiting for his decision on whether to run for the Senate next year. The popular term-limited conservative governor is the GOP’s dream candidate to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is considered vulnerable, in the key southeastern battleground state, as Republicans aim to expand their 53-47 Senate majority in the 2026 midterm elections. “We need to flip that seat. We should have a Republican in that seat, and I believe we’ll have one after the ’26 election,” Kemp said in a Fox News Digital interview this past week. Kemp isn’t ready to make an announcement, emphasizing that he’s “really got a lot on my plate right now.” THIS KEY REPUBILCAN GOVERNOR SPOTLIGHTS TRUMP’S FRENETIC PACE “I’m in the middle of my legislative session. We’ve got a big tort reform fight going on. I’m chairing the Republican Governors Association. I made a commitment on that,” he added. But the governor acknowledged that “I know I can’t keep holding out forever, so we’ll have something to say on that down the road.” Georgia’s legislative session is scheduled to adjourn on April 4. THERE WILL BE ANOTHER OPEN DEMOCRATIC-HELD SENATE SEAT IN NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERMS Sen. Tim Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, has said that Kemp is a top recruit, and he hopes the governor will run. And recent partisan polling in Georgia indicated Kemp topping Ossoff in a hypothetical matchup. But the NRSC is confident of flipping the seat in Georgia even if Kemp decides to take a pass on a 2026 run. Among the Republicans who’ve expressed interest in a run for the Senate seat in Georgia if Kemp opts out are Reps. Buddy Carter, Rich McCormick, Mike Collins, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, a top ally of President Donald Trump and a political rockstar on the far right with a very large national profile, along with state Insurance Commissioner John King. Kemp was interviewed as he chaired the Republican Governors Association’s (RGA) winter meeting in Washington D.C. The governor, who has been steering the RGA for three months, emphasized his frenetic schedule to fundraise and recruit candidates. “Doing a lot of stuff in Florida, Texas, been to California, will be traveling to help other governors, but also just in DC, you know, continuing to work hard to raise money, really, all across the board,” he said. And Kemp said he’s aiming to “really grow the organization, grow the donor base, and make people understand why it’s so important to have Republican governors, because we are the incubators of democracy. We’re the ones that are implementing a lot of these new and efficient things that we’re doing that then may filter out to another state and then another state after that.” THIS REPUBLICAN SHERIFF JUST JUMPED INTO THE GOVERNOR’S RACE IN THIS KEY BLUE STATE Republicans held onto their 27-23 gubernatorial advantage in the 2024 elections, thanks in part to the efforts of the RGA. Looking ahead, New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states to hold gubernatorial elections this year, giving them outsized national attention and making them key barometers for the mood of Americans during the start of a new presidential term. A competitive GOP primary is underway in blue-state New Jersey, where Republicans hope to win a gubernatorial election for the first time in a dozen years. REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS SAY WITH TRUMP ELECTION, ‘WE’VE GOT A FRIEND IN THE WHITE HOUSE’ And in Virginia, GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears is aiming to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin [Virginia governors can only serve one consecutive four-year term] and make history as the state’s first woman governor and the nation’s first Black female governor. Next year, 36 states will hold gubernatorial elections. Pointing to the two-year cycle, Kemp said, “There’s a lot of work to do, but we are right on the ideas, and we just got to have the money and the fundamentals to be able to have a playbook and a plan and all these races to make sure we continue to have great Republican governors that are elected around the country.”
President Trump and Justin Trudeau hold call about Ukraine, border security after weeks of tension
President Donald Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Saturday about a variety of issues, ranging from the war in Ukraine to U.S. border security. In a statement released Saturday evening, the White House said Trump and Trudeau began the call by discussing the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament that Canada won, and both leaders “expressed pride in the excellence of both nations’ teams that faced off in a hard-fought hockey championship.” “The discussion turned to Monday’s G7 call that will mark the third anniversary of the invasion and war in Ukraine,” the statement added. “Prime Minister Trudeau echoed President Trump’s desire to see an end to the war and acknowledged that President Trump is the only world leader who can push through a just and lasting peace. “President Trump reminded the prime minister that the war should never have started and would not have had he been president at the time.” TRUMP IMPOSES TARIFFS ON IMPORTS FROM CANADA, MEXICO AND CHINA: ‘NATIONAL EMERGENCY’ The leaders also discussed U.S. border security, a sensitive subject for Canadian officials since Trump imposed tariffs in response to drug trafficking at the U.S.-Canadian border. Trump agreed Feb. 3 to pause the tariffs for 30 days, meaning the tariffs are expected in early March. During the call, Trudeau claimed Canada has achieved a 90% reduction in fentanyl crossing into the U.S. from Canada and said his country’s border czar will be in Washington next week for meetings with U.S. border chief Tom Homan. Trump and Trudeau have had a strained relationship in recent weeks, due to both the tariffs and Trump’s stated interest in securing Canada as a U.S. territory. Earlier in February, Trudeau said he believes Trump is serious about turning Canada into the 51st U.S. state. CANADA WILL NOT BE ’51ST STATE,’ AMBASSADOR PROTESTS AMID TRUMP TARIFF THREAT “I suggest that not only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have, but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state,” Trudeau said, according to CBC. “They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have, and they very much want to be able to benefit from those.” Trump previously complained about the trade deficit the U.S. has with Canada, claiming “there is no reason” for such an imbalance. “We don’t need anything they have,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use. Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true! “Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State,” Trump added. “Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada – AND NO TARIFFS!” On Thursday, Trudeau posted a cheeky retort after Canada won the 4 Nations Face-Off. “You can’t take our country – and you can’t take our game,” Trudeau wrote on X. Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
Top Biden advisor says party ‘lost its mind’ after debate: ‘It melted down’
A top advisor to former President Joe Biden said the Democratic Party “melted down” after his poor performance in the June 2024 debate against President Donald Trump and insisted Biden should have remained the party’s candidate. Biden’s rough performance and weak voice at the CNN Presidential Debate sparked immense fear about his re-election odds, and the left’s top leaders called on him to withdraw from the race. Biden was replaced as the Democratic candidate by Vice President Kamala Harris less than a month later on July 21. She lost to Trump in the 2024 presidential election. MEDIA CALLS FOR BIDEN TO WITHDRAW FROM 2024 RACE AFTER ‘DISASTER’ CNN DEBATE PERFORMANCE: ‘IT’S OVER’ “Now, lots of people have terrible debates,” former Biden senior advisor Mike Donilon said during a discussion at Harvard University. “Lots of people have terrible debates. Usually the party doesn’t lose its mind, but that’s what happened here. It melted down.” CNN and the BBC ran headlines calling the performance “disastrous” and “incoherent.” “If Joe Biden loses November’s election, history will record that it took just 10 minutes to destroy a presidency,” CNN senior reporter Stephen Collinson wrote in an article. “It was clear a political disaster was about to unfold as soon as the 81-year-old commander in chief stiffly shuffled on stage in Atlanta.” Collinson went on to describe Biden giving the weakest performance in televised debate history. New York Times columnist and Biden supporter Thomas Friedman wrote the debate made him “weep” and called on Biden to step aside. “I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime — precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election,” Friedman wrote. BIDEN RIPPED FOR ‘OLD’ APPEARANCE, ‘WEAK’ VOICE DURING FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: ‘DEEPLY ALARMING’ Donilon, who has known Biden for more than four decades, described the Democratic Party’s reaction as “insane.” “I think the party lost its mind,” he said. “If you ask people about this period of time, they’ll tell you Biden was losing the polls, he was going to lose. … They were saying this in a margin-of-error race.” He added he had never seen a situation where a candidate was down three points nationally in the summer of a general election and his party decided he could not win. “But that’s what happened, right?” Donilon said. “If you actually go and look at the polling in the first couple of days after the debate, the margin between Trump and Biden got closer. It didn’t get bigger.” He discussed focus groups that convened on the night of the debate, noting while they believed Trump won overall, they voiced concerns about both candidates. “They will say they’re worried about Biden’s age, but they’ll also say something else,” Donilon said. “They were really worried about Trump. They were worried about the fact he said he wouldn’t accept the results of the election. They were worried that he said, ‘I had nothing to do with Jan. 6.’ The sense from him was that he was not on the side of people.” What really happened, according to Donilon, was not as devastating as the conventional wisdom became. “I said this to Biden the morning after the debate: Sometimes you can lose the campaign about the campaign,” he said. “And that’s what happened to us.” He insisted the former president was not mentally impaired but acknowledged the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 and inflation contributed to Biden’s downfall. Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
New FBI leader Kash Patel tapped to run ATF as acting director
FBI Director Kash Patel will be tapped to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), two sources confirmed to Fox News Digital on Saturday. The news comes a day after Patel was sworn in as the ninth FBI director in a narrow Senate vote. Former FBI Director Christopher Wray resigned at the end of former President Biden’s term and Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the ATF general counsel, Pamela Hicks, on Thursday. FBI NOMINEE KASH PATEL CONFIRMED IN NARROW SENATE VOTE “Earlier today, I was served official notice from the Attorney General of the United States that I was being removed from my position as the Chief Counsel of ATF and my employment with the Department of Justice terminated,” Hicks posted on her LinkedIn page Thursday, confirming her termination. Hicks had served as ATF’s chief counsel since 2021 under the Biden administration, and served as deputy chief counsel for ATF under President Donald Trump’s first administration. She spent 23 years overall as an attorney within the Department of Justice (DOJ), she posted to LinkedIn. VP JD VANCE SPEAKS ON ‘FUNDAMENTAL GOAL’ OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AT CPAC ADDRESS “Serving as ATF Chief Counsel has been the highest honor of my career and working with the people at ATF and throughout the Department has been a pleasure,” Hicks continued in her post. “I thank my colleagues for their friendship and partnership over the years.” “These people were targeting gun owners,” Bondi told Fox News on Thursday of the ATF. “Not gonna happen under this administration.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Both the FBI and ATF are part of the DOJ.
Dem and GOP governors urge Trump to ‘let the states play a role’ in immigration decisions
Two governors, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, found common ground at a National Governors Association meeting in Washington, D.C., on one of President Donald Trump’s most critical goals. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat and chairman of the National Governors Association, and Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt told Fox News Digital they want states to have a say in immigration enforcement and issuing work permits. “We want to make sure we’re at the table in that with regard to immigration,” Polis told Fox News Digital. DEMS SAY THEY’RE AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE, BUT THEY HATE DOGE MORE He said the idea that the states should have a seat at the table regarding immigration decisions “has a lot of support (among) both Democratic and Republican governors.” Polis said states know what their labor needs are and could grant work permits after careful vetting. “Let us be able to grant those based on free background checks … and that’ll help our economic growth,” Polis said. Polis, whose state has been ground zero for criminal activity and violence by the migrant gang Tren de Aragua, said “varying degrees of cooperation” between state and federal authorities are necessary. Colorado has several sanctuary-style laws limiting law enforcement cooperation with federal authorities, but Polis insisted its relationship with federal law enforcement agencies is strong. COLORADO CITY HELPS DOZENS OF FAMILIES RELOCATE AFTER TREN DE ARAGUA APARTMENT INFESTATION Stitt said he would encourage Trump to consider giving states the ability to grant workforce visas. “I’ve been an advocate for workforce visas at the state level,” Stitt said. “Matching employers with employees is something that governors should be able to do, whether it’s in the construction industry, the agricultural industry, engineering, aviation, whatever.” OKLAHOMA SUPERINTENDENT WHO BRAWLED WITH CNN OVER ICE ENTERING SCHOOLS DOUBLES DOWN: ‘DEPORTED TOGETHER’ He joked that the U.S. is “like [a team in] the NFL with the No. 1 draft pick.” “We should be able to choose the very best and brightest to our country. But we’re just being silly how we do it right now. Let’s close the border. Let’s make sure we have the very best and brightest that come into our country,” Stitt said. Stitt also touted his state’s Operation Guardian, which he launched earlier this month to empower state and local law enforcement to better work with the Trump administration and ICE to deport criminal illegal aliens. “I put my commissioner of public safety in charge to say, ‘How many people do we currently have in prison in the state of Oklahoma who are here illegally that have committed crimes? And then how can we work with the Trump administration to get them out of our state, out of our country and off of the taxpayer rolls in Oklahoma? So, I think that’s probably the first step,” Stitt said. NOEM MAKES AGGRESSIVE NEW MOVE TO RAMP UP ARRESTS, DEPORTATIONS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS However, Stitt said there is a limit to what states should be doing to enforce immigration law. He proceeded to knock a recent effort by the Oklahoma State Department of Public Instruction to check the immigration status of children enrolled in public schools. ALLEGED FENTANYL-SMUGGLING IMMIGRANTS LEAD POLICE ON DANGEROUS CORNFIELD CHASE “In Oklahoma, I also said, ‘Listen, we’re not going to ask for immigration status for 6, 7, 8-year-old kids in school,” he said. But Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, also a Republican, responded by saying Stitt’s stance on not checking school children’s immigration status undermines Trump’s agenda. “It is unfortunate that Gov. Stitt is thwarting President Trump’s America First agenda,” Walters told Fox News Digital. “We cannot afford to stick our heads in the sand like Democrats and ignore the cost of illegals to taxpayers. President Trump was clear, Oklahoma voters were clear and we will defend the will of the president and Oklahomans.”
Trump rattles off ‘flagrant scams’ uncovered by DOGE, takes aim at Fort Knox in CPAC speech
President Donald Trump celebrated his whirlwind first four weeks back in the Oval Office in a speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday afternoon, mentioning what he called “flagrant scams” uncovered by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. “I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency — you probably haven’t heard of it — which is now waging war on government waste, fraud and abuse. And Elon is doing a great job,” Trump said at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center Saturday in Oxon Hill, Maryland, just outside the nation’s capital. “He’s doing a great job.” Musk is leading DOGE as investigators scrutinize various federal agencies in an effort to curb government overspending and stamp out fraud. DOGE’s work has become a lightening rod for criticism among Democratic lawmakers and government employees, who have filed a number of lawsuits attempting to end the investigations and audits. “Here are some of the flagrant scams that, as an example, they’ve spent money on, and we’ve been able to recapture a large dose of it at least. Five hundred and 20 million dollars for a consultant … [on] environmental, social governance and investments in Africa,” he said. CPAC STRAW POLL REVEALS WHO CONSERVATIVES BELIEVE WILL BE 2028 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE “Twenty-five million dollars to promote biodiversity conservation and socially responsible behavior in Colombia. This is Colombia, South America, not Columbia University. Of course, that might be worse. … Forty million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. “Forty-two million for social and behavior change in Uganda. Ten million for Mozambique medical male circumcisions. Why are we going to Mozambique to do circumcisions?” Trump asked, before continuing to rattle off a handful of other pricey initiatives funded by taxpayers uncovered by DOGE. ‘SAVED THE COUNTRY’: CPAC ATTENDEES SEE SILVER LINING AFTER ELON MUSK’S DOGE SPEECH CPAC is an annual conference of conservative lawmakers, leaders and voters, which kicked off on Wednesday and wraps up Saturday after Trump’s speech. KAROLINE LEAVITT OFFERS WORDS OF WISDOM TO YOUNG WOMEN AT CPAC: ‘JUST BELIEVE IN YOURSELF’ Earlier in the day, Trump sent a message on his Truth Social platform calling on Musk to “get more aggressive” with his DOGE work. “Will do, Mr. President!” Musk responded just a few hours ahead of Trump’s CPAC speech. Musk later added on X, “Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.” “We have a very corrupt group of people in this country, and we’re finding them out,” Trump said during his speech. “We’re removing all of the unnecessary, incompetent and corrupt bureaucrats from the federal workforce.” VP JD VANCE SPEAKS ON ‘FUNDAMENTAL GOAL’ OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AT CPAC ADDRESS Trump said he and Musk will head to Fort Knox in Kentucky to ensure the United States Bullion Depository still houses a reported $425 billion in government gold. The Trump administration and Republican allies have called for more transparency about the vault. President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the vault in 1943, which was followed by Treasury Secretary William Simon opening the vault to journalists and lawmakers in 1974 and again during the first Trump administration when Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, inspected the vault. “We are also going to Fort Knox. I’m going to go with Elon. And would anybody like to join us? Because we want to see if the gold is still there. We want to see,” Trump said. “Wouldn’t that be terrible? We open [it] up, and this Fort Knox has got nothing. It’s just solid granite that’s five feet thick. The front door, you need six musclemen to open it up. I don’t even think they have windows. Wouldn’t that be terrible if we opened it up and there was no gold there? So, we’re going to open those doors, we’re going to take a look. And if there’s 27 tons of gold, we’ll be very happy,” he added. “I don’t know how the hell we’ll measure it, but that’s OK.” Trump ended his first full month back in the White House this week, which has included a breakneck pace of executive orders and actions. He took a victory lap for his whirlwind first month, touting in his speech the administration’s work to end the “weaponization” of the government under the former Biden administration, his plan to soon impose reciprocal tariffs on foreign trading partners and celebrating the deportation of illegal immigrants from communities across the nation. “We’re liberating communities like Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, that have been occupied by illegal alien criminals from all over the world,” Trump said. “We’re rescuing the Americans whose jobs have been stolen, whose wages have been robbed and whose way of life has been absolutely destroyed. And, under the Trump administration, our country will not be turned into a dumping ground.”
Elon Musk says federal employees must fill out productivity reports or resign
Tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that all federal employees are being instructed to report their productivity in a new Trump administration initiative. In a post Saturday on X, Musk said the report will come in the form of an email that will give federal workers a chance to report how productive they were the previous week. If the email is ignored, Musk said, the federal government will interpret that as a resignation. “Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk wrote. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.” WHITE HOUSE OUTLINES WHERE DOGE SAVINGS COULD GO AFTER TRUMP FLOATS RETURNING 20% TO AMERICANS The post came as Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues slashing suspected waste across the federal government. In an X post Tuesday, DOGE said it discovered 4 million active credit cards on the U.S. government’s books. “The US government currently has ~4.6M active credit cards/accounts, which processed ~90M unique transactions for ~$40B of spend[ing] in FY24,” DOGE said in a post on X Tuesday. $1,300 COFFEE CUPS, 8,000% OVERPAY FOR SOAP DISPENSERS SHOW WASTE AS DOGE LOCKS IN ON PENTAGON President Donald Trump has been supportive of Musk’s work with DOGE. On Saturday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that though Musk is “doing a great job,” he should be “more aggressive.” “ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE. REMEMBER, WE HAVE A COUNTRY TO SAVE, BUT ULTIMATELY, TO MAKE GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. MAGA!,” Trump wrote. Musk responded with an enthusiastic “Will do, Mr. President!” hours after Trump posted. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for additional comment. Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.
USDA launches review at University of Maine over transgender sports policy after Trump-Gov. Mills blowup
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Saturday announced it was launching a compliance review of the University of Maine “following the State of Maine’s blatant disregard for President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14201, ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.’” The review follows investigations launched by the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services in the last 24 hours after a tense exchange between President Trump and Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills over transgender student-athletes playing in women’s sports. “President Trump has made it abundantly clear: taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars will not support institutions that discriminate against women,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital Saturday. TRUMP’S DECISIVE RESPONSE TO MAINE’S GOVERNOR ON TRANSGENDER ATHLETES IS HOW IT SHOULD BE: RILEY GAINES “USDA is committed to upholding the president’s executive order, meaning any institution that chooses to disregard it can count on losing future funding.” The University of Maine receives more than $100 million in USDA funding, according to the USDA. Trump and Mills clashed Thursday at the White House during a bipartisan meeting of governors when the president told her she must follow his executive order or “you’re not going to get any federal funding.” “We’ll see you in court,” Mills replied. The blue state is one of several defying Trump’s Feb. 5 executive order prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports. Trump threatened Thursday to cut off federal funding to Maine before clashing with Mills at the bipartisan meeting of governors. “Are you not going to comply with that?” Trump asked Mills. “I’m complying with state and federal laws,” she responded. “Well, we are the federal law,” Trump said. “You better do it. You better do it because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.” TRUMP VOWS TO CUT OFF FEDERAL FUNDING TO MAINE OVER REFUSAL TO COMPLY WITH ‘NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS’ ORDER “And, by the way, your population, even though it’s somewhat liberal, although I did very well there, your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports. So, you better comply because otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding,” Trump added. “We’ll see you in court,” Mills snapped. “Good, I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one,” Trump replied. “And enjoy your life after governor because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.” Mills released a statement Friday, saying, “The State of Maine will not be intimidated by the President’s threats. “If the President attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of Federal funding, my Administration and the Attorney General will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides.” After the exchange Friday, the Department of Education launched an investigation into Maine schools. “Today the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent a letter to the Maine Department of Education Commissioner Pender Makin announcing that OCR is initiating a directed investigation of the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) amid allegations that it continues to allow male athletes to compete in girls’ interscholastic athletics and that it has denied female athletes female-only intimate facilities, thereby violating federal anti-discrimination law,” the Department of Education said in a news release Friday. Trump reiterated his plan to cut off federal funding to the state at a meeting with Republican governors Thursday. “I heard men are still playing in Maine,” Trump said to a gathering of Republican governors in Washington Thursday. “I hate to tell you this, but we’re not going to give them any federal money. They are still saying, ‘We want men to play in women’s sports,’ and I cannot believe that they’re doing that. … So, we’re not going to give them any federal funding, none whatsoever, until they clean that up.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Trump also continued his criticism of Maine Saturday while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “The governor of Maine. She’s fighting to keep men in women’s sports. You ever see what happens to a woman when a woman boxes? A man who transitioned to womanhood? Did you ever see what happens? … It’s not pretty. It’s not pretty,” Trump said. “Let her do that fight. Let them all do that fight. Because I think that’s about a 90/10 issue, and I can’t figure out who the 10% are. Nobody can.” Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and the University of Maine for comment.