Ousted Musk Admits to ‘Differences of Opinion' With Trump
Elon Musk may have been one of President Donald Trump's closest aides, but they didn't always see eye to eye.
The recently departed DOGE chief revealed in an interview with CBS News' Sunday Morning that he wasn't always on board with the Trump administration's agenda.
'It's not like I agree with everything the administration does,' he said in a teaser for the interview airing June 1. 'I mean, I agree with much of what the administration does, but we have differences of opinion.'
During his brief tenure as Trump's controversial cost cutter-in-chief, Musk reportedly tussled with State Secretary Marco Rubio over sweeping cuts made by DOGE and with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over their bets for acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.
But those conflicts erupted out of the public eye, and Musk alluded to why they played out behind closed doors.
'The things that I don't entirely agree with, but it's difficult for me to bring that up in an interview, because then it creates a bone of contention,' he told CBS. 'So then I'm a little stuck in a bind where I'm like, 'Well, I don't want to speak up against the administration, but I also don't want to take responsibility for everything the administration is doing.''
The tech mogul has taken a pounding over DOGE's slash-and-burn approach to shrinking the size of federal government, with numerous polls finding that Americans largely disapprove of Musk.
'DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,' he told The Washington Post earlier this week. 'So, like, something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.'
Musk's businesses also suffered losses while he was preoccupied in Washington.
He earlier vowed to spend more time back at Tesla after the automaker saw profits plunge 71 percent in the first quarter of the year. A SpaceX ship also tumbled out of control half an hour after it was launched over the weekend.
The world's richest man announced his formal departure from the government on Wednesday night, putting an end to his 130-day stint with the Trump administration that saw him gradually get pushed more and more out of the picture.
Musk exited with only a fraction of the savings he vowed to deliver. He said at the start of the year that DOGE could save the government $2 trillion, but the massive cuts made by the task force only added up to $175 billion by their own estimation.
On his way out, Musk poached top Trump aide Katie Miller, wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, for a full-time role on his team.
CNN's report that Katie followed Musk out of the government came a day after Stephen defended Trump's 'One, Big, Beautiful Bill' from the billionaire's criticism.
'I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,' Musk told CBS.
Stephen later wrote on X that the mega bill couldn't codify the DOGE cuts because it was limited to mandatory spending: 'You cannot cut discretionary spending (only mandatory) in a reconciliation bill. So DOGE cuts would have to be done through what is known as a rescissions package or an appropriations bill.'
Despite their public disagreement about Trump's signature measure, all appeared to be well between the two top Trump advisers.
'The work DOGE has done to eliminate government waste and corruption — the rot embedded deep within Washington — is among the most valuable services ever rendered to government,' Stephen said in an X post responding to Musk's departure. 'And the work has only just begun.'
A senior Trump administration official also told CBS that 'Musk left on good terms and is still friends with the president.'
'This isn't a separation, but just a return to the private sector for Musk,' the official said. 'He will continue to be a friend to the president, and we can characterize that as an 'adviser.''
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick echoed a similar sentiment to Fox host Laura Ingraham Thursday night. 'I know Elon is still very, very close to the President and I think he's going to stay exactly there,' he said on the Ingraham Angle.
Meanwhile, Musk is set to appear alongside the president at a White House press conference on Friday, Trump confirmed on Truth Social Thursday.
'This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way. Elon is terrific! See you tomorrow at the White House.'
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