Thursday, February 20, 2025 - United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he has put billionaire Elon Musk in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, appearing to contradict the White House over who runs the cost-cutting program.
Recall that the White House had in a court filing on Monday said that
Musk’s role in the Trump administration was that of a White House employee and
senior adviser to the president, and that he had
no authority over DOGE and was not an employee of the program.
The White House declared this to a judge in a case filed by Democratic
attorneys general against Musk and DOGE.
Trump appeared to contradict at least part of the White House statement
on Wednesday.
“I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency and
put a man named Elon Musk in charge,” Trump said.
He has repeatedly talked about Musk as the functional leader of DOGE,
which is not a cabinet-level department, featuring him in a news conference at
the White House this month to answer questions about the program.
The president on his first day in office set up the cost-cutting body in
an executive order that did not say who its administrator would be.
DOGE has swept through federal agencies since Trump began his second
term as president last month.
Musk, chief executive of carmaker Tesla, was put in charge of rooting
out what the White House calls wasteful spending as part a dramatic overhaul of
government that has included thousands of job cuts.
Musk has been accused of a host of conflicts of interest between his
business interests and his efforts to cut costs for the federal government.
The White House has said that the billionaire will recuse himself if any
conflicts of interest arise.
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