The president on Monday provided an update on DOGE and Musk.
President Donald Trump said adviser Elon Musk will eventually have to depart from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and go back to running his companies.
The president told reporters on Monday in the Oval Office that agency heads will continue to work with DOGE and carry out its mission after Musk leaves.
“I think he’s amazing, but I also think he’s got a big company to run, and so at some point he’s going to be going back,” Trump said. Musk is the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of social media platform X.
“He wants to. I’d keep him as long as I could keep him,” Trump said.
During an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office during a signing ceremony for an executive order that calls for enhanced penalties for people who resell concert tickets, Trump was asked whether DOGE can “keep operating even without Elon here?”
“Well, I can’t tell you that,” Trump responded. “I can say this, that a lot of the people working with DOGE are the secretaries, the heads of the various agencies, and they’ve learned a lot.”
Agency heads are now “dealing with the DOGE people” and have “gotten a big education” from the organization, the president said.
“I think some of them may try and keep the DOGE people with them, but you know, at a certain point, I think it will end,” he added.
Musk is classified as a special government employee, which allows him to skirt certain requirements and disclosure agreements that would be mandated if he were a federal employee. The classification, however, means that he will have to step down from his position after 130 days, which Musk noted during an interview last week.
“I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that timeframe,” Musk told Fox, referring to the 130-day deadline, which falls in late May.
