The White House is making it clear that Elon Musk, despite his close relationship with the Trump administration, is not an official employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and does not hold any more authority than other White House staff members. Although Musk was appointed to oversee the agency's efforts to streamline government operations, he remains a private citizen with no formal role or special privileges within the administration. This clarification comes as criticisms attempt to exaggerate Musk's influence in government affairs and claim that the Tesla CEO is running the country.
In a court filing on Monday, the Trump administration clarified that Elon Musk is not the official leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) nor an agency employee. Instead, the administration stated that Musk serves as a White House advisor. However, the filing did not disclose the actual DOGE administrator's identity.
Director of the Office of Administration, Joshua Fisher, submitted a signed declaration clarifying that Musk "is an employee of the White House office,” where he is "a non-career Special Government Employee (SGE).” He said that Musk serves as a “Senior Adviser to President [Trump]” and that it is not uncommon for the president to have Senior Advisors who are SGEs.
He compared Musk to former President Joe Biden’s top advisor, Anita Dunn, who served as a political strategist and advisor to the former president during his 2020 campaign and in the White House.
According to the filing, Musk can only advise Trump and communicate the president’s directives. He maintained that he has no formal authority to make government decisions. Fisher also clarified that DOGE is separate from the White House and is “not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization.”
In response to the criticism he has received, Musk defended his role in the Trump administration, saying he “love[s] the people” and “just want[s] to fix the waste and fraud that is bankrupting the country.”
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“The scrutiny on me is extreme, so it’s not like I could ‘get away’ with something, nor do I have any incentive to do so,” he wrote on X.
This comes after the White House filed an affidavit in a case brought against Musk by more than a dozen states’ Democratic attorney generals to prevent him from exercising control over federal agencies. The state AGs said they were "challenging the unlawful delegation of executive power to Elon Musk” as he continues to expose the government's corrupt and wasteful spending.
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