WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s point person to root out what he says is government waste, on Monday renewed his threat to fire federal workers who do not comply with his demand to justify their jobs, even after the Trump administration said workers did not have to respond.

The U.S. agency that oversees federal employees said on Monday they could ignore a weekend email from Musk that required them to summarize their work or face losing their jobs. The directive sparked widespread confusion across the federal government and raised questions about how much actual authority Musk, the world’s richest man, possesses within the administration.

As the deadline for response grew near on Monday, Musk, whom Trump appointed to head up a newly named Department of Government Efficiency that Trump has tasked to radically downsize the government, seemed to acknowledge that his plan had run aground.

“The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!” Musk posted on X, the social media site he owns. “Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers.”