Elon Musk officially leaves the White House

NBC News

2 days ago

Elon Musk's days working at the White House are over.
The billionaire Tesla CEO, enlisted by President Donald Trump to cut waste in the federal government, started offboarding from his role Wednesday night, a White House official told NBC News. Musk's move came a day after he criticized a Republican bill to fund much of Trump's agenda.
Musk commented on his exit Wednesday on X, his social media platform. He called for the 'DOGE mission' to become 'a way of life throughout the government,' referring to his Department of Government Efficiency initiative.
'As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,' wrote Musk, the richest person in the world.
NBC News has reported that special government employees, a class of temporary worker that included Musk, can typically work up to 130 days in a calendar year, though the days can be split up. The White House first publicly acknowledged Musk's role on Feb. 3, so he was most likely nearing the end of that tenure.
Musk's official departure came at a charged moment in his relationship with Trump. On Tuesday, CBS News' 'Sunday Morning' shared a clip of him sharing his disappointment in the 'massive spending bill' that he said 'undermines' the work of his DOGE operation, which has aimed to reduce federal spending by slashing the size of the federal workforce, cutting government programs and eliminating grants deemed wasteful.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated the Republican funding package would add $2.3 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years, largely due to the extensions of Trump's 2017 tax cuts and new expenditures that outweigh the savings.
Musk initially set out to cut upwards of $2 trillion dollars through the operation, though he later significantly walked back that goal.
Now he leaves the government with DOGE having thus far fallen well short of the trillions of dollars of savings that he had once touted on the campaign trail. As of Wednesday evening, the DOGE government website claimed $175 billion in savings, though its claims have been found to be questionable.
Trump responded to Musk's criticisms Wednesday afternoon in the Oval Office, defending the funding package. The president said the legislation would deliver on several of his key priorities, but he also noted the complexities of passing such a sprawling bill through a sharply divided House.
'My reaction's a lot of things. No. 1, we have to get a lot of votes. We can't be cutting a — you know — we need to get a lot of support, and we have a lot of support. We had to get it through the House,' Trump said.
Musk was among the most visible people in the early days of the second Trump administration, securing the president's favor after fueling his 2024 presidential campaign with upwards of $250 million dollars, according to campaign finance reports.
The tech mogul was frequently seen alongside Trump, often wearing a Trump hat while appearing with one of his young children. Musk appeared to relish his role as Trump's waste and fraud czar, taking the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February with a sizable chainsaw to tout his cost-cutting initiative.
Musk also at one point threatened to use his wealth to fund challengers to any Republicans that dared to oppose Trump's agenda.
But behind the scenes, tensions mounted between Musk and other Trump administration members, with some of those making their way to the public through news reports about tense meetings and shouting matches. Musk also took some of his grievances public, including criticism of Trump's tariffs.
Meanwhile, Musk's public profile suffered — as did the perception of his most consumer-centric business, Tesla. Public poll numbers showed that he and DOGE were relatively unpopular, and Tesla vehicles and dealerships became the target of protests and vandalism. Tesla's stock is down 11% so far this year.
Trump continued to support Musk, at one point in March turning the South Lawn of the White House into an impromptu Tesla showroom and buying one of the vehicles.
Musk's power, both in terms of his cash contributions as well as his political clout, took a hit in late March when Republicans lost a high-profile judicial election in Wisconsin in which Musk spent heavily and became a target for Democrats.
Musk had maintained that his participation in the Trump administration and DOGE was temporary, but in recent weeks he has signaled that he may pull back from politics more broadly. Last week, he said he planned to scale down his sizable spending on politics, though said he would spend in the future if he saw a reason to do so. 'I don't currently see a reason,' he said.
While Musk has said DOGE will continue to operate, it's unclear just how much pull it will have without him at the helm.