Musk's DOGE days could end soon, Trump suggests
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Elon Musk attends a cabinet meeting held by President Trump at the White House on March 24. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Elon Musk's chainsaw-wielding tour of the federal bureaucracy as a special government employee will eventually come to a close, President Trump suggested to reporters on Monday.
The big picture: As Musk guides a team throughout a dramatic upheaval of federal agencies at a breakneck pace, he's on a tight timeline as a "special government employee." That designation means he is confined to 130 days of service during a one-year period.
Driving the news: "He's got a big company to run ... At some point he's going to be going back," Trump said of the richest man in the world Monday. "He wants to. I'd keep him as long as I could keep him."
- He added that the heads of agencies who worked with DOGE had "learned a lot," saying, "I think some of them may try to keep the DOGE people with them, but at a certain point ... it will end."
- Trump continued, "There will be a point at which the secretaries will be able to do this work."
Musk, in an interview alongside DOGE aides with Fox News' Bret Baier, said he expected to accomplish "most of the work required to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion" within the 130-day timeframe.
By the numbers: If the 130-day count started on Jan. 20, Musk would be done at the end of May. If only week days were counted, his tenure could stretch into July.
- According to the U.S. Federal Labor Relations Authority, work on weekends and holidays counts toward SGE days.
- The White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request into when Musk's SGE status began.
- The role is defined as "anyone who works, or is expected to work, for the government for 130 days or less in a 365 day period," whether paid or unpaid, per the Department of Justice.
- However, an SGE can work multiple years, NPR reported.
Zoom out: Musk is technically not the administrator of DOGE, the White House stated in a February court filing.
- In fact, the White House said in February that Amy Gleason, a former nurse turned health care technologist, was the acting DOGE administrator.
Yes, but: Musk has been deeply involved in the administration as an adviser to the president, recently paying visits to the CIA and the Pentagon.
- And the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's involvement has sparked concerns about potential conflicts of interest given his companies' government contracts.
- While Musk can keep his financial disclosure form confidential as an SGE, the criminal conflict of interest statute requires him to avoid conflicts of interest, Axios' Sareen Habeshian reported.
- That means he can't participate in government matters that have direct predictable effects on his financial holdings. But Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said Musk would identify his own conflicts of interest.
In just over two slash-and-burn style months, DOGE claims to have saved $140 billion — but math errors in the department's self-reported audit have led to uncertainty about the accuracy of its tally.
- DOGE-driven cuts have included mass layoffs of civil servants across the government, including a recent purge of Health and Human Services staff that's expected to affect some 10,000 employees.
Go deeper: Worries grow over DOGE privatization push
