Elon Musk breaks silence on rumours of 'fall out' with Trump after leaving DOGE
SpaceX mogul, Elon Musk, has broken his silence on his alleged "falling out" with Donald Trump after stepping down from his role as a Special Government Employee in the Department of Government Efficiency
Elon Musk has broken his silence amid an alleged "falling out" with Donald Trump, following his exit from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It comes after the billionaire admitted he was "disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases" in a CBS interview set to air in full on Sunday (June 1), in which he discussed the president's self-proclaimed "Big, Beautiful Bill". Musk had previously led the Trump administration's initiative to cut wasteful expenditure in his DOGE role and was frequently seen alongside the president during his election campaign and initial days in office.
However, the SpaceX tycoon seemed to grow frustrated after being compelled to lower his spending cuts target from $2trillion to $1trillion, and later to $150billion.
When questioned about Musk's critique of the bill - which narrowly passed with a 215-214 vote - Trump informed reporters at the White House on Wednesday that his party simply "had to get it through the House", adding: "I'm not happy about certain aspects of it, but I'm thrilled by other aspects of it."
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that over the next decade, the bill is likely to add $3.8 trillion to the national debt. Musk criticised the magnitude of the bill and its potential contribution to the already substantial national debt.
"I think a bill can be big, or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion," Musk pointed out, as signs of disagreement between the two began to emerge.
Although the 53-year old hasn't directly addressed any "falling out", he took to his own platform, X on Wednesday evening to share a statement that contained those exact words. There, he retweeted a tweet from a user with the bio "American Supremacist", stating: "Legacy media is trying to frame Elon's departure from DOGE as the result of a falling out with Trump.
"Elon was a special govt employee. Special govt employees can serve 130 days. 130 days after January 20th is May 30th, this Friday."
Following that up later, however, Musk penned a tweet of his own, which read: "As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government."
According to the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and its ethics guidelines for Special Government Employees (SGEs), an SGE is defined as "an officer or employee who is appointed to perform temporary duties, with or without compensation, for a period not to exceed 130 days during any period of 365 consecutive days".
The guidance further clarifies: "Any work done on any given day means that day is counted as a work day."
Responding to Musk's tweet, one critic blasted: "Thanks for destroying the government. You failed miserably. You claimed you found waste, fraud and abuse and you couldn't quantify or prove it."
Whilst a second X user hit out: "Everyone wants to cut waste, left, right and centre. But you barged in with a chainsaw where we needed a precision. No plan, no clue, just chaos sold as reform.
"You don't trim fat, while slashing muscle, just to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires. That was the problem, and people saw right through it."
Others, however, thanked the mogul for his efforts, including an individual who responded: "Thank you for your service Mr Musk. You will go down in history."
And echoing this sentiment, another wrote: "Thank you Elon. You are my hero and so sad and disappear Congress still haven't codify the cuts after all you went through and the sacrifices you and DOGE team have made... I don't think I can vote Republicans anymore."
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