Federal employees in the United States will be fired if they don't report their weekly performance, as required by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This was stated by US President Donald Trump to reporters on Tuesday.

If they don't respond, they will be fired, Trump told reporters at the White House, speaking about the consequences of ignoring DOGE requests.

One of the goals is to find out if these people even exist, Trump said, explaining the need to respond to the DOGE request. They have a huge government, it's millions of people, and nobody knows who works for the government and who doesn't. They need to find out if there is a situation where people are getting paid but not working, added the US president.

If these federal workers don’t respond, it will essentially be followed by punishment, and their job will be over, Trump stressed.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday announced that at least 1 million federal employees had already responded to the DOGE request.