Republican strategist Scott Jennings pushed back against CNN panelists on Monday night after they criticized an email sent to federal employees asking them to report their accomplishments for the previous week.
Jennings reminded the panel that President Donald Trump is the boss of all federal employees and that accountability in government is standard practice.
The debate stemmed from a post made by White House Senior Advisor Elon Musk on X on Saturday, in which he announced that federal workers were required to submit a report to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) detailing what they had accomplished in the past week.
Dennis Quaid’s #1 Warning for Americans
The reports were due by Monday at 11:59 p.m.
The announcement led to backlash from media figures, including “The View” co-host Ana Navarro, who claimed the process was unfair to government employees.
“If they did it surgically, if they did it strategically, if they did it deliberately and thoughtfully, I don’t think anybody would have an issue with cutting some government waste with identifying programs that are not working, but the way they are doing it is haphazard, it is dangerous, it is, frankly, abusive of federal workers and it is just plain wrong,” Navarro said.
Her comments led to a back-and-forth debate between her, CNN panelist Tara Setmayer, and Scott Jennings.
100% FREE Gun Law Map CLICK HERE
Jennings immediately pushed back on the idea that asking government employees to account for their work was “abusive.”
“It’s abusive to send an email?” Jennings asked.
Navarro responded, “Yes, I do. I do think that I think the way that they are. Yeah, I think the way that they are treating them—” before being interrupted by Jennings.
Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy were appointed by President Trump as co-chairs of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on November 12.
Ramaswamy later stepped down on January 20 to prepare for a run for governor of Ohio.
According to the DOGE website, the department has already identified $55 billion in government savings since Trump’s January 20 executive order created the agency.
Jennings continued pressing the panel on why the request for accountability was problematic.
“How is this abusive?” Jennings asked.
Setmayer responded by criticizing the email, claiming that it threatened employees with termination if they failed to respond.
Jennings dismissed the complaint, saying, “It’s called having a boss in the private sector.”
Setmayer countered, “From someone who’s not your boss?”
Jennings clarified that, in reality, the White House oversees all federal workers and that the email was simply a way to gauge whether employees were paying attention.
“Well, the White House is every federal worker’s boss, that’s number one,” Jennings said as CNN NewsNight host Abby Phillip and Setmayer attempted to talk over him.
“The test was: Are you even paying attention to your email? Are you even at your terminal?”
On Monday afternoon, Musk posted an update on X, granting federal employees a second opportunity to respond to the email after some failed to submit their reports on time.
Despite this extension, some agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Defense, have publicly stated that they will not comply with the request.
The Trump administration has not yet announced whether it will take further action against employees who refuse to respond.
Join the Discussion
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.