Trump 2nd term updates: Trump excludes low-value shipments from looming tariffs

DOGE emails were sent to federal judges asking them to explain their work, according to a spokesperson for the Northern District of Illinois.

"Once we learned about the correspondence, Chief Judge Virginia Kendall and Clerk of Court Thomas Bruton communicated with the staff that as we are judiciary employees, our policies and procedures are governed by the Judicial Conference of the United States and our local court HR handbooks," Julia Hodek said in a statement to ABC News. "The email was not sent by or at the direction of the Judicial Conference, the Administrative Office, or our Court. Our communication was then followed up by a memo from the Director's Office of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts that reinforced the same message."

Supreme Court justices and staff have not received the email, according to sources.

Bloomberg Law first reported the messages appearing in inboxes of federal judges offices.

-ABC News' Devin Dwyer and Ariane Nalty

Dozens of fired federal employees protested in Senate office buildings, crowding into the office of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and the personal office of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Tuesday morning.

The protestors barged into Murkowski's office, demanding a meeting with the moderate senator or a member of her staff.

Ultimately, a member of her staff agreed to speak and the protestors were asked to leave to talk with that staffer in the hallway.

Five protesters were allowed into Thune's office while the rest were asked to leave.

"I'm not sure that they have an understanding or appreciation of what any federal government agency or department does," former USAID employee Elizabeth Glidden told ABC News when asked about Musk and Trump.

"Yes, USAID was the first but this is also about our colleagues at the VA and CFPB and at the Pentagon," she added.

-ABC News' Jay O'Brien

After facing angry questions from constituents at a town hall last week, Georgia Republican Rep. Rich McCormick was back on Capitol Hill with a new message for Elon Musk and DOGE: show a little compassion.

McCormick faced "boos" as he fielded questions from furious constituents.

"People are concerned about what DOGE is, what it can do, what its powers are, if they're overstepping the law. They're concerned about the rapidity of the moves and people losing their benefits," McCormick told ABC News.

The congressman said he was heading to the White House Tuesday afternoon for a previously scheduled meeting with Trump, and, if given the chance, he plans to convey some of his concerns about DOGE to the president directly.

"I think some of their actions have been too rapid to adapt to — for real people. I mean, you're talking about Republicans too. We're not just talking about Democrats," he said.

Republican Rep. Cliff Bentz of Oregon also got an earful from constituents at a town hall last week and urged Musk not to leave Congress in the dark.

"I would tell him (Musk) he needs to reach out to Congress and let us know what they have in mind before they do it. So we at least have some sort of heads up," he said.

-ABC News' Rachel Scott and James Parkinson

One of the things noted by OPM in its letter to employees over the "What did you do last week?" email was the fact that White House employees are exempt from replying to the email.

"At Counsel's direction, in order to comport with the Presidential Records Act, the Executive Office of the President is exempted from this exercise," the letter said.

-ABC News' Katherine Faulders