Cabinet officials caught off guard and frustrated by Musk’s directives to federal employees

Elon Musk’s presence at President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday will solidify his power in the administration — and how quickly he’s amassed it despite not being elected or Senate confirmed.

Elon Musk’s presence at President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday will solidify his power in the administration — and how quickly he’s amassed it despite not being elected or Senate confirmed. But Musk’s attendance at the meeting comes as his attempts to gut the federal workforce and reshape it in Trump’s image, including giving sweeping orders to employees across the government, has begun to grate on Cabinet secretaries and members of Congress, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Those frustrations were escalated when Musk delivered a six-word directive that resulted in rippling chaos throughout the government. White House officials insisted they were not caught off guard by a Saturday email from the Office of Personnel Management sent at Musk’s direction, which asked: “What did you do last week?” But Cabinet officials and members of Congress weren’t given a heads up. The email — and Musk’s subsequent threats that those who do not respond promptly would be fired — surprised several agency heads and top Trump administration officials, the sources said, swiftly setting off questions over who has the authority to issue directives to employees across different departments.