Elon Musk is leaving the Trump administration after leading a controversial efficiency initiative during which he upended several US federal agencies but ultimately failed to deliver the huge savings he had sought.
The Tesla chief executive’s “off-boarding will begin tonight,” a White House official said late on Wednesday, confirming Mr Musk’s departure from government.
Mr Musk earlier on Wednesday used his social media platform X to thank US president Donald Trump as his time as a special government employee with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) drew to an end.
His departure was quick and unceremonious. He did not have a formal conversation with Mr Trump before announcing his exit, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, who added that his departure was decided “at a senior staff level”.
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While the precise circumstances of Mr Musk’s exit were not immediately clear, he leaves a day after criticising the president’s marquee tax bill, calling it too expensive and a measure that would undermine his work with DOGE.
Some senior White House officials, including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, were particularly irked by those comments, and the White House was forced to call Republican senators to reiterate Mr Trump’s support for the package, a source familiar with the matter said.
While Mr Musk remains close to the president, his exit comes after a gradual but steady slide in his standing.
After Mr Trump’s inauguration, the billionaire quickly emerged as a powerful force in his orbit: hyper-visible, unapologetically brash and unfettered by traditional norms.
At the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, he brandished a red metallic chainsaw to wild cheers.
“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” he declared.
On the campaign trail, Mr Musk had said DOGE would be able to cut at least $2 trillion in federal spending. DOGE currently estimates its efforts have saved $175 billion so far, a number Reuters was not able to independently verify.
Mr Musk did not hide his animus for the federal workforce and he predicted that revoking “the Covid-era privilege” of remote working would trigger “a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome”.
But some cabinet members who initially embraced Mr Musk’s outsider energy grew wary of his tactics, sources said. Over time, they grew more confident pushing back against his job cuts, encouraged by Mr Trump’s reminder in early March that staffing decisions rested with department secretaries, not the Tesla chief.
Mr Musk clashed with three of Mr Trump’s most senior cabinet members – secretary of state Marco Rubio, transportation secretary Sean Duffy and treasury secretary Scott Bessent.
He called Mr Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks”. Mr Navarro dismissed the insults, saying, “I’ve been called worse.”
At the same time, Mr Musk began to hint that his time in government would come to a close, while expressing frustration at times that he could not more aggressively cut spending.
During an April 22nd Tesla conference call, he signalled he would be significantly scaling back his government work to focus on his businesses.
“The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised,” Mr Musk told The Washington Post this week. “I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C., to say the least.”
Mr Musk’s 130-day mandate as a special government employee in the Trump administration was set to expire around May 30th. The administration has said DOGE’s efforts to restructure and shrink the federal government will continue.
Several cabinet secretaries are already discussing with the White House how to proceed without further alienating Congressional Republicans. But even as department heads will keep some DOGE infrastructure in place, they will likely move to reassert control over budgets and staffing, sources said.
One source said Mr Musk’s decision to criticise Mr Trump’s tax bill on TV deeply upset senior White House aides.
His political activities have drawn protests and some investors have called for him to leave his work as Mr Trump’s adviser and more closely manage Tesla, which has seen falls in sales and its stock price.
Mr Musk, the world’s richest person, has defended his role as an unelected official who was granted unprecedented authority by Mr Trump to dismantle parts of the US government.
Having spent nearly $300 million to back Mr Trump’s presidential campaign and other Republicans last year, Mr Musk said earlier this month he would substantially cut his political spending.
“I think I’ve done enough,” he told an economic forum in Qatar. – Reuters
