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

Speaking about Elon Musk's email request for federal workers to list five things they accomplished last week, press secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated her support for what she called a "very simple idea."

"Again, this is to ensure that federal workers are not ripping off American taxpayers, that they are showing up to the office and that they are doing their jobs," Leavitt said when asked whether this is an effort to see who is working or if it is an effort to cut jobs.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt continued to claim President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and agency heads are acting as one as confusion mounts over competing guidance to federal workers.

"The president defers to his Cabinet secretaries, who he's obviously entrusted, to pursue the guidance relative to their specific workforce," Leavitt said. "And for some of the agencies that you've seen who have said, please don't send these emails, it's in their best interest for that specific agency and the president supports that."

"And let me be very clear, the president and Elon and his entire Cabinet are working as one unified team, and they are implementing these very common sense solutions," she said.

A federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to dole out millions of dollars to multiple nonprofit groups after the president signed an executive order freezing foreign aid on his first day in office, determining the Trump administration violated the terms of a temporary restraining order issued two weeks ago.

Judge Amir Ali, a Biden-era appointee, also signed an order to enforce a temporary restraining order he signed two weeks ago, ordering the groups be paid by midnight Wednesday.

Ali excoriated Trump administration attorneys during a lengthy hearing on Tuesday over its failure to pay the groups for work they conducted prior to President Donald Trump’s executive order freezing all foreign aid for 90 days.

-ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman and Peter Charalambous

Twenty-one federal employees who previously worked for the United States Digital Service, which President Donald Trump renamed via executive order to the United States DOGE Service, released a letter on Tuesday resigning in protest, claiming they would not use their technical skills to "dismantle critical public services."

"We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services. We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE's actions," the letter reads.

Over 20 employees, who were part of USDS prior to the name change and not hired by Musk, resigned including the head of IT, multiple engineers and product managers, according to the letter, which lists them anonymously.

-ABC News' Will Steakin