Elon Musk can only advise Trump and communicate the president’s directives, a White House official said.
Elon Musk is not an employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and does not have the authority to make decisions, the White House said in new court filings on Feb. 17.
Both DOGE and a subunit of DOGE are separate from the White House office, which employs Musk as a special government employee who is a senior adviser to the president, White House official Joshua Fisher said in one of the documents.
“Mr. Musk is an employee in the White House Office. He is not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization,” Fisher wrote. “Mr Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.”
Fisher also said that Musk has no greater authority than other senior White House advisers and, like the other advisers, “has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself.”
“Mr. Musk can only advise the President and communicate the President’s directives,” Fisher wrote.
U.S. Department of Justice lawyers said in another filing that Musk is employed by the White House, not DOGE, “and he only has the ability to advise the President, or communicate the President’s directives, like other senior White House officials.”
The White House previously said that Musk is a special government employee and has abided by “all applicable federal laws.” President Donald Trump has said that Musk “can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval, and we’ll give him the approval where appropriate; where not appropriate, we won’t.”
The filings were entered as part of a case brought by attorneys general of Arizona, New Mexico, and other states. The complaint alleges that the authority that Trump has granted to Musk is unconstitutional because Musk was not confirmed by the Senate, which typically confirms top executive branch officials.
“Mr. Musk has inserted himself into the highest levels of over a dozen federal agencies and begun directing the agencies’ actions in ways that exceed even the authority” of Senate-confirmed leaders, a motion for a temporary restraining order stated. It said that Musk, “an individual accountable only to the President—if he answers to anyone at all—is exercising apparently limitless power within the Executive Branch.”
