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Elon Musk officially resigned from his role in the Trump administration just five months later, ending a turbulent period overseeing cost reductions through so-called government efficiency.
In a Wednesday post on X, Musk, who began to scale back work at Doge last month, said, “I would like to thank President @RealdonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasted spending as my appointment time as a special government employee is coming to an end.”
The world’s wealthiest man is a “special government employee” and a category within the US civil servant, restricting staff from working more than 130 days a year.
But while Musk was originally intended to lead Doge until next summer, authorities believed there was a workaround to get him on board for longer, according to people familiar with the issue.
Musk appears to suggest that the initiative will continue without him. “The @doge mission will be a government-wide lifestyle, so the @doge mission will be strengthened over time.”
White House officials said masks have begun “boarding.”
Musk originally promised to cut up to $20 from the annual federal budget, or nearly a third of government spending. As of May, Doge had only been charged $175 billion in savings, and it turns out that many of the line items that made up that figure could not be verified by the Financial Times.
Tesla’s chief executive has denounced lawmakers for Doge’s slow progress in recent weeks and criticised the House Republican tax bill passed last week.
Nonpartisan estimates found that the bill still needs to pass the Senate would add more than 3.3 tons to the US deficit over the next decade.
“I think the bill will grow, or it will be beautiful,” Musk told CBS in an interview airing Sunday. “But I don’t know if it’ll be both.”
Musk, who has a net worth of over $428 billion, was Trump’s top donor in his 2024 campaign and spent more than $250 million to boost his candidacy, according to Forbes. He recently said he intends to spend “a lot less” on future campaigns and “doesn’t do enough” to donate to political causes.
In recent weeks, Musk has pledged to return “24/7” to his business after Tesla suffered a particularly sharp sales slump due to his relationship with the Trump administration.
