President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff announced earlier this week that Elon Musk is no longer working on DOGE at the White House.
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While speaking to the New York Post, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles stated Musk is “not as present as he was” at the White House, physically at least.
“Instead of meeting with him in person, I’m talking to him on the phone,” she explained. “But it’s the same net effect.”
Wiles further explained that Musk hasn’t been at the White House physically. However, she doesn’t believe his White House presence matters much.
The Chief of Staff also said that the DOGE team isn’t going anywhere. “He’s not out of it altogether,” she continued. “He’s just not physically present as much as he was. The people that are doing this work are here doing good things and paying attention to the details. He’ll be stepping back a little, but he’s certainly not abandoning it. And his people are definitely not.”
Musk will be officially stepping down from his DOGE role later this month. He has been operating at the White House as “an unpaid special government employee” since DOGE was established.
Elon Musk Says DOGE Is ‘Not As Effective’ He’d Like After the First 100 Days of President Trump’s Second Term
Meanwhile, Elon Musk called his first 100 days as head of DOGE “very, very tense.”
According to ABC News, Musk told reporters at the White House earlier this week that while his team has made progress, claiming to have saved $160 billion so far, he admitted the team hasn’t been as “effective” as he would like.
“I think we’ve been effective, not as effective as I’d like,” he explained. “I think could be more effective, but we made progress.”
Musk initially stated DOGE would save the US “at least $2 trillion” in federal spending. However, he later walked back his claim, noting the goal was then $1 trillion.
This week, Musk said the goal is still “possible,” but admitted “it’s really difficult” and he would need more support.
“I think it’s possible to do that, but there’s that,” he continued. “It’s a long road to go and, you know, this, this, this really, it’s really difficult. But our rate of savings per day is pretty good. You know, we’re like, $1.6 billion a day, 100 days in.”
Musk then said that if DOGE is going to make $1 trillion in cuts, it will depend on “how much pain is the cabinet and Congress willing to take.”
“It can be done, but it requires dealing with a lot of complaints,” he added.