Trump alleges ghost workers are stealing billions from federal funds

US President Donald Trump has voiced support for Elon Musk's demand that federal employees explain their recent accomplishments by the end of Monday or risk getting fired, an edict that has spawned new litigation and added to turmoil within the government workforce.

"What he's doing is saying, 'Are you actually working?" Trump said in the Oval Office during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.

"And then, if you don’t answer, like, you're sort of semi-fired or you're fired, because a lot of people aren't answering because they don't even exist."

The Republican president said that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has found "hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud" as he suggested that federal paychecks are going to nonexistent employees.

"If people don’t respond, it's very possible that there is no such person, or they aren't working," Trump said.

Attorneys representing unions, businesses, veterans and conservation organisations filed an updated lawsuit in federal court in California on Monday, arguing Musk had violated the law with his demand.

The Office of Personnel Management, which functions as a human resources agency for the federal government, told employees to detail five things they did last week by the end of Monday.

The lawsuit, spearheaded by the State Democracy Defenders Fund, called the threat of mass firings "one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country."

'Dead people being used to collect paychecks'

The White House criticised the litigation.

"In the time it took these employees on taxpayer-funded salaries to file a frivolous lawsuit, they could have briefly recapped their accomplishments to their managers, as is common in the private sector, 100 times over," said Anna Kelly, a deputy press secretary, in a statement.

Musk is leading Trump's efforts to overhaul and downsize the federal government, and they've already caused upheaval by pushing employees to resign, laying off probationary workers and halting work at some agencies.

However, there are signs Musk is testing the limits of his influence, and some administration officials told employees not to respond to his demand.

It has been the most significant public divergence between the billionaire entrepreneur and Senate-approved Cabinet leaders, who have otherwise been enthusiastic about fulfilling Musk's objectives.

Trump dismissed the idea there was any kind of split involving his most powerful adviser.

"They don’t mean that in any way combatively with Elon," he said, adding that "everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea."

The Office of Personnel Management declined to comment on Monday as Musk continued to threaten federal workers with layoffs despite the confusion.

"Those who do not take this email seriously will soon be furthering their career elsewhere," he posted on X, his social media platform.

The latest turbulence began over the weekend, when Trump posted on his social media website: "ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE."

Musk followed by saying, "All federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week."

He claimed "failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."

The directive echoed how the entrepreneur has managed his own companies.

The Office of Personnel Management sent out its own request afterward.

"Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager," the message said. However, it said nothing about the potential for employees being fired for noncompliance.

The deadline was listed as 11:59 pm EST on Monday.

Musk on Sunday called his latest request "a very basic pulse check."

"The reason this matters is that a significant number of people who are supposed to be working for the government are doing so little work that they are not checking their email at all!" Musk wrote on X.

"In some cases, we believe non-existent people or the identities of dead people are being used to collect paychecks." Musk and Trump have claimed in recent days that tens of millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving Social Security payments.