Latest news with #DogeTeam
The National
3 days ago
- Business
- The National
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
Elon Musk on Wednesday said he was leaving his position within the US government after leading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency in a controversial effort to slash federal spending. '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,' he wrote on his social media platform X. A White House official told Reuters that Mr Musk is leaving the administration and his 'off-boarding will begin tonight.' Mr Musk's 130-day mandate as a special government employee in the Trump administration was set to expire around May 30. The administration has said Doge's efforts to restructure and shrink the federal government will continue. 'The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,' he wrote. Mr Musk and Doge have cut nearly 12 per cent, or 260,000 people, from the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce largely through threats of firings, buyouts and early retirement offers, Reuters reported. Mr Musk's departure comes after he criticised the price tag of Republicans' tax and budget legislation making its way through Congress. '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,' Mr Musk told CBS News. The richest person on the planet's political activities have drawn protests and some investors has called for Mr Musk to leave his work as Mr Trump's adviser and manage Tesla more closely. He leaves Washington dramatically changed. Doge's firings exploded the US capital's long-held boast that it is immune to economic shocks that buffet the rest of the country. The Tesla and SpaceX chief joined the Trump administration in January and claimed he would cut $2 trillion from the $7 trillion federal budget. It became clear that was wildly overambitious, and as of today, Doge says it has saved an estimated $175 billion. But the taxpayer may end up on the hook for more than that as the government is forced to settle lawsuits over the mass firings, as well as hire expensive contractors to fill the gaps left by an overzealous Doge. Plus, any savings will be dwarfed by new deficit spending under the Republicans' tax bill that is currently under Senate consideration. Mr Musk's role working for Mr Trump was always intended to be temporary, and he had recently signalled that he would be shifting his attention back to running his businesses.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Trump news at a glance: Musk confirms White House exit after split with Trump on tax bill
In the latest sign the honeymoon is over between Donald Trump and his tech billionaire sidekick, Elon Musk, the president confirmed he will go ahead with his signature tax bill, despite Musk's public criticism of it. Musk has sneered at the bill in a series of social media posts and interviews, including one with CBS, in which he said he was 'disappointed' to see the bill progressing, saying it would increase the budget deficit and 'undermines the work that the Doge team is doing', referring to the department he oversaw to slash jobs, spending and resources from federal agencies. The disagreement between Trump and the world's richest man comes as Musk confirmed on social media platform X that his time at the White House was officially coming to an end. Musk has publicly diverged from the president on policy several times and had clearly signaled his intent to spend less time in Washington and more on his businesses, Tesla, SpaceX and xAI. It's a drastic turnaround for Musk, who plowed $200m into Trump's campaign and dedicated most of the last year to promoting Trump and far-right ideology online. Here are the key stories at a glance: In a further jibe at Trump's bill – known officially as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – Musk told CBS: '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.' The bill is Trump's marquee piece of legislation and would allow him to follow through on campaign promises, including tax cuts for individuals and corporations, and an end to clean energy incentives enacted under Joe Biden. It also funds the construction of a wall along the border with Mexico, as well as staff and facilities for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. Read the full story A federal trade court on Wednesday blocked Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law. The ruling from a three-judge panel at the New York-based court of international trade came after several lawsuits arguing Trump has exceeded his authority, left US trade policy dependent on his whims and unleashed economic chaos. Read the full story Trump's big, beautiful new plane from the government of Qatar has arrived – but the US president has a problem with it: it's too big. The Qataris have given the president a Boeing 747-8, a stretch model of the jumbo that is more than 18ft longer than the much older 747-200B that flies as the current Air Force One. Read the full story Robert F Kennedy Jr has threatened to ban government scientists from publishing in the world's leading medical journals, which he branded 'corrupt', and to instead create alternative publications run by the state. 'We're probably going to stop publishing in the Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, Jama and those other journals, because they're all corrupt,' the US health secretary said on the Ultimate Human podcast. He accused the publications of being controlled by pharmaceutical companies. Read the full story Advocates for pregnant people said they are alarmed by Robert F Kennedy Jr's unprecedented and unilateral decision to remove Covid-19 booster shots from the recommended immunization schedule. Read the full story The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the US will 'aggressively' revoke visas of Chinese students, one of the largest sources of revenue for American universities, in the latest attack on the country's higher education institutions. Read the full story The family of a four-year-old girl who is receiving life-saving treatment in the United States are fighting against deportation, as her medical team warns she will likely die 'within days' if forced to return to Mexico. Read the full story The Trump administration is distancing itself from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as questions swirl over its leadership, funding, ties to Israeli officials and links to private US security firms. Reports and leaked video of its operations to bring food aid to Gaza depicted scenes of chaos, with crowds storming a distribution site and Israeli military officials confirming they had fired 'warning shots' to restore order. Gaza health officials said at least one civilian had been killed and 48 injured in the incident. Read the full analysis A judge released a Russian-born scientist and Harvard researcher from immigration custody as she deals with a criminal charge of smuggling frog embryos into the US. RFK Jr and Mehmet Oz are attempting to save more than 300 ostriches in Canada that the government had ordered killed over fears of avian flu. The US said it will refuse visas to foreign officials who block Americans' social media posts as Trump's administration wages a new battle over free expression. Catching up? Here's what happened on 27 May 2025.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Elon Musk 'disappointed' by Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful' tax bill
Elon Musk has criticised one of the signature policies of his close ally, US President Donald week, the US House of Representatives narrowly passed what Trump calls his "big, beautiful" bill, which includes multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and a pledge to increase defence spending. It will now head to the the titan Musk told the BBC's US partner CBS News he was "disappointed" by the plan, which he felt "undermines" the work he did for the president on reducing was enlisted as Trump's cost-cutting tsar - ending funds for US foreign aid among other projects - before announcing he would step back. He also recently said he would cut his political spending. "I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly," Musk said in the interview with CBS Sunday Morning, a clip of which was released by the broadcaster before went on to argue that Trump's plan "increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it". It is thought that the legislation could increase the deficit - or the difference between what the US government spends and the revenue that it receives - by about $600bn (£444bn) in the next fiscal year. Furthermore, the bill "undermines the work that the Doge team is doing", Musk said, using the acronym of the cost-cutting advisory body the Department of Government Efficiency. Referring to Trump's moniker for the bill, Musk told CBS: "I think a bill can be big or beautiful. I don't know if it can be both." US House passes Trump's 'big, beautiful' tax and spending billA look at the key items in the bill Musk's intervention highlights the ongoing tension within Trump's Republican Party over the tax and spend plans, which faced an uneasy passage through the House due to opposition from different wings of the a policy priority of Trump's, the legislation pledges to extend soon-to-expire tax cuts passed during his first administration in 2017, as well as provide an influx of money for defence spending and to fund the president's mass comments on the issue imply a growing distance from Trump, who he helped to propel back to the White House last year with donations of more than $ come after the billionaire recently pledged to step back from Doge. He also said last week that he planned to do "a lot less" political spending in the future, and that he was committed to leading electric car company Tesla for another five faced protests, boycotts and a drop in sales over Musk's work as the Doge chief, including his controversial efforts to lay off thousands of federal workers and curb foreign defended his actions during last week's comments, saying: "I did what needed to be done." Trump and his allies justified the cuts as a matter of weeding out what they saw as fraud and abuse within federal spending.
