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

During a signing of executive orders, President Donald Trump was asked about the email requests sent out to federal employees and whether or not it's mandatory.

"Well, it's somewhat voluntary, but it's also if you don't answer, I guess you get fired," he said.

The president claimed without details that nobody knows who's working for the government and the email would be a way to square that out.

"If they're there and they're working, they're able to say they did five things during work, and that means they're working and they're with us, and they have no further obligation if they're not, it could be there's no such person. It could be that the person's no longer working," he said.

Trump did not elaborate if Elon Musk, who first announced the email and said people had a deadline of Monday night, communicated to him about this claiming "the buck stops here."

"If they don't write back they end up eventually losing their job. We give them extensions," Trump said without elaborating.

Ukraine and the U.S. have agreed to terms on a deal relating to critical minerals and other resources, according to a senior Ukrainian official.

This comes after the Trump administration demanded Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sign a deal that would have Ukraine pay the U.S. $500 billion through a fund, financed by taking 50% of revenues of Ukraine's resources, including minerals, oil and gas, as well ports and other infrastructure, to which Zelenskyy declined.

-- ABC News' William Gretsky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is preparing to visit Washington D.C. on Feb. 28, a senior Ukrainian official told ABC News.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky

A White House official confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday that the "acting DOGE Administrator" is Amy Gleason, who previously worked at USDS during President Donald Trump's first term prior to his executive order in January renaming the agency.

Gleason worked as a Digital Services Expert at USDS from October 2018 until December 2021, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also has ties to one of the earliest names associated with DOGE, Brad Smith, who joined Musk's group early and helped with the transition.

Gleason worked for Smith at his Russell Street Ventures until December 2024 before joining the Trump admin in January.

The news was first reported by The Washington Examiner. It is not immediately clear how long Gleason has had the role.

Earlier Tuesday, White House press secretary Karolin Leavitt would not name the DOGE administrator when asked at today's press briefing.

"So, the president tasked Elon Musk to oversee the DOGE effort. There are career officials and there are political appointees who are helping run DOGE on a day-to-day basis. There are also individuals who have onboarded as political appointees at every agency across the board to work alongside President Trump's cabinet to find and identify waste, fraud and abuse. And they are working on that effort every day," she said.

-ABC News' Will Steakin