Trump says Musk is ‘not really leaving’
Washington – Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, who led an effort in the Trump administration to reduce jobs and programs through the federal government, was held next to President Trump on Friday at the Oval Office, officially for the last time as a government employee. But neither of the two men was clear if Musk’s active hand in the government is really over.
Their unity demonstration comes after Musk, the entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX, published a series of Trump policies criticism, both directly and through his businesses, and as reports emerge that the billionaire has fought ferocious battles with the president’s collaborators and relied on powerful drugs while serving as Trump’s confusion.
“No one like him,” said Trump about Musk at the White House event. “He had to go through the slings and the arrows, which is a shame, because he is an incredible patriot.”
“Many people Doge, Elon, stay behind. So they don’t leave. And Elon really doesn’t leave,” added Trump. “He’s going to be both directions, I think I have a feeling. It’s his baby.”
Musk congratulated the Doge’s team, acronym for the government’s Ministry of Efficiency Program, for saving what he said was $ 175 billion in public spending. The program had initially set a higher objective of cutting $ 2 billions of dollars, and it is not clear if the Musk team even met its revised figure, the office of the Treasury Treasury Department documentation An increase in federal spending during the period last year.
“The Doge team is doing an incredible job,” said Musk. “I will continue to visit here and be a friend and an adviser to the president.”
That Musk continues in its role will have legal consequences. As an employee of the special government, Musk is forced to end its service, now that the maximum authorized 130 -day work period has passed.
A group of 14 states continued, arguing that the status of Musk employees was a cunning for the Trump administration to bring it into a powerful government role without having to go through a confirmation process of the Senate.
A Washington Federal Judge judged on Wednesday that the initial appointment of Musk was questionable, declaring that he “occupies a continuous position” and “exercises an important authority”, opening a broader legal challenge on the constitutionality of his work for Doge.
In a series of interviews leading to his official departure from the government, Musk said that he was planning to reduce his political spending in the future and criticized the Trump administration and the Congress Republicans to continue legislation that would face the national deficit, a decision which, according to him, was contrary to the Doge mission.
His departure this week comes after the New York Times reported on the heavy use by Musk of Ketamine, a powerful anesthetic drug, and after an article in the Wall Street Journal detailed Musk attempts to thwart Trump to pursue partnerships on artificial intelligence in the Middle East who would benefit Sam Altman, the CEO Musk.
Musk’s time in the government was marked by multiple setbacks for its companies. SpaceX failed to respect the essential engineering milestones for Starship, a very heavy critic rocket which is essential to American effort to return humans to the moon and its own personal objective of reaching Mars. And Tesla, her electric vehicle company, saw a dive of 71% of the profits in the First quarter of 2025 and a 50% drop in action value of his tops in December.
“I think I probably spent a little too much time in politics,” Musk told Ars Technica, a scientific and technological publication, in an interview on Tuesday.
“It’s not like leaving businesses,” he added. “It was just a relative time allowance which was probably a little too high on the government side, and I reduced it significantly in recent weeks.”
