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U.S. Senator Alex Padilla of California has raised serious concerns about unauthorized mass emails being sent to legislative staff members, calling for immediate action from Elon Musk and OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell to halt these communications.
In a strongly-worded letter released Thursday, Padilla highlighted that various legislative offices and agencies have been receiving emails from [email protected], despite these branches being outside the jurisdiction of executive branch personnel actions.
“Neither the White House nor [the Department of Government Efficiency] nor OPM have any authority or legitimate purpose to mass email legislative branch offices and agencies demanding information from employees or to threaten adverse personnel actions,” Padilla said.
A federal employee went on CNN to cry that she only had 48 hours to reply to Elon/ DOGE’s email…
Sooo… she had time to get herself booked on CNN and go on TV, but not reply to an email about her actual job…. Got it.
pic.twitter.com/1qWPhGnqUt— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) February 24, 2025
The controversy stems from recent unauthorized communications sent to federal workers over the weekend, which requested them to provide five-point summaries of their weekly activities. Recipients were given until Monday at 11:59 p.m. to submit their responses.
The California senator expressed particular concern about these unauthorized communications consuming valuable resources and potentially leading staff members to inadvertently share sensitive legislative information through improper channels.
Adding to the gravity of the situation, Padilla noted that several executive branch departments had cautioned their own staff against responding to these messages, citing risks of sensitive information being intercepted by hostile foreign entities.
Just to be clear, Trump is saying here that the purpose of the DOGE emails to federal workers is literally just “Saying, are you actually working?”
He says many people being paid don’t exist, he just wants to know who’s employed
This is what Democrats are losing the mind over?… pic.twitter.com/Aui27YJGQb
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) February 26, 2025
“The fact that these mass emails are also going beyond the scope of the executive branch is yet another sign of how DOGE is operating in an uninformed, poorly executed, and chaotic manner,” Padilla said.
The senator concluded his letter by requesting confirmation from both DOGE and OPM that they would implement measures to prevent any further unauthorized mass communications to legislative branch offices, agencies, and their employees.
