One of the people who received an email from allies of Elon Musk was a federal judge overseeing a lawsuit aimed at blocking these messages.
“I, like probably every other judge in the country, also received the [Office of Personnel Management] email,” U.S. District Judge Randolph Daniel Moss said during a hearing related to the lawsuit on Thursday. “I did not respond to it. I suspect it was sent to the judges by mistake.”
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Government Efficiency for comment via email on Thursday.
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The Context
Two federal employees filed the lawsuit against OPM on January 27, alleging that the agency, along with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, used an unsecured server to blast out emails to more than two million federal employees, violating federal law and potentially compromising workers’ privacy.
The lawsuit says OPM used the unsecured server to send test emails to federal workers, as well as a January 28 “Fork in the Road” email, which offered deferred resignations to the entire federal workforce as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the government bureaucracy.
The OPM filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit and submitted a privacy assessment detailing how the system it uses collects and disseminates information to government employees.
What To Know
Moss on Thursday denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a restraining order against OPM in light of the agency’s submission of a privacy assessment.
“As soon as you got the [Privacy Impact Assessment from OPM], you had a different case, a different motion,” Moss told a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “You should have filed something with the court.”
The Trump administration, Musk and his allies at DOGE have prioritized slashing the federal workforce since Donald Trump was inaugurated on January 20.
But multiple labor unions challenged the January 28 “Fork in the Road” email offering deferred resignations to employees if they accepted by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday.
The American Federation of Government Employees said in its lawsuit that OPM violated the Administrative Procedures Act by rolling out the deferred resignation offer without clarifying if it has the funding for it or how it will be structured and implemented.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s initiative on Thursday afternoon and scheduled a hearing on the issue for Monday.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. also ordered the administration to extend the deadline until at least after Monday’s hearing, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.
Moments after O’Toole issued his ruling, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that 40,000 federal workers have accepted the White House’s offer for deferred resignations, in which employees will be paid full salary and benefits through the end of September.
Musk’s team, meanwhile, has rankled current and former government officials by seeking unfettered access to multiple federal agencies, including the U.S. Treasury, OPM and the General Services Administration. Together, the three agencies make up the heart of the U.S. financial and human-resources system, controlling trillions of dollars in federal disbursements and containing the personal information of tens of thousands of government employees.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly limited DOGE’s access to the Treasury payments system, with the exception of two DOGE-connected “special government employees,” who will have “read-only” access to the systems “as need for the performance” of their jobs.
In addition to Treasury, Musk has also trained his sights on the U.S. Agency for International Development as he seeks to shutter the body, which has provided billions of dollars in foreign assistance to war-torn nations and those facing poverty and disease.
DOGE also this week gained access to data systems for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which controls $1.5 trillion in federal spending.
Trump, meanwhile, has zeroed in on the Justice Department and the FBI as he seeks to root out those deemed insufficiently loyal, particularly employees who worked on investigations related to the U.S. Capitol riot and Trump’s hoarding of classified documents.
Eight top FBI officials were fired as part of that process last week, as well as 30 prosecutors who worked in the special counsel Jack Smith’s office.
What People Are Saying
Kevin Thompson, a finance expert and the founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group, told Newsweek: “Some cuts may become permanent, but realistically, much of what Trump is implementing can be reversed by the next administration. Unless these changes are codified into law—which requires approval from both the House and Senate—they lack long-term staying power. That said, many Republicans may support Trump’s initiatives, as history has shown that opposing the party line can come with political consequences.”
Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek: “DOGE has also been instrumental in some of the changes to staffing, which have included hiring freezes and contract buyouts of employees the new administration no longer wants in their roles. However, those staffing savings may not be permanent. The federal government is a massive organization to run and could be more difficult to operate with limited staffing than the new administration expects.”
What Happens Next
In the short term, DOGE’s cuts could create disruption and confusion, Thompson said.
“Long-term impacts may be more muted, as many of these changes are executed via executive action and can be undone with a simple reversal,” he said. “The bigger question is the global impact—how much credibility does the U.S. lose with its allies when a private citizen, like Elon Musk, seemingly wields more influence than the president?”
Under Trump’s order, DOGE is set to be a temporary organization until July 4, 2026.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Update 2/6/25 4:53 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information.
Update 2/6/25 6:08 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information.
