Elon Musk Is Expected to Use Office Space in the White House Complex

 

Elon Musk Is Expected to Use Office Space in the White House Complex

 

The location suggests that Mr. Musk, who owns companies with billions of dollars in contracts with the federal government, will continue to have remarkable access to President-elect Donald J. Trump.

 

Maggie Haberman Charlie Savage Jonathan Swan Theodore Schleifer

By Maggie Haberman Charlie Savage Jonathan Swan and Theodore Schleifer

Reporting from Washington

 

Jan. 13, 2025

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/us/politics/elon-musk-white-house-trump.html

 

Elon Musk is expected to use office space in the White House complex as he launches the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to slash government spending in the Trump administration, according to two people briefed on the plans.

 

The space anticipated for Mr. Musk’s use is in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is adjacent to the White House. The location would allow Mr. Musk, who owns companies with billions of dollars in contracts with the federal government, to continue to have significant access to President-elect Donald J. Trump when he takes office this month.

 

Mr. Musk has had discussions with transition officials about what his level of access to the West Wing will be, but that was left unclear, according to two people briefed on the matter. Staff members and others who are able to come and go freely in the West Wing typically require a special pass.

 

Mr. Musk donated hundreds of millions to help Mr. Trump win the 2024 election and has been a regular by his side since then, often using one of the cottages available for rent on Mr. Trump’s property at Mar-a-Lago. During the transition, he has sat in on official meetings and at least one foreign call, and weighed in on staff and cabinet choices.

 

It was not clear whether Vivek Ramaswamy, Mr. Musk’s partner in leading the project, would also have office space in the Eisenhower building.

 

The Musk-Ramaswamy project is called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, but it is not a “department” in the sense of the Justice Department — an official, congressionally authorized part of the government. Mr. Musk’s status and the project have raised myriad issues about the rules for outsiders helping to wield governmental power.

 

DOGE staff members are currently working out of the Washington, D.C., offices of Mr. Musk’s SpaceX company.

 

Officials with the Trump transition and associated with DOGE did not respond to requests for comment.

 

The work around DOGE has so far been shrouded in secrecy, with the transition revealing little to nothing about how it will function, or how it will be budgeted for.

 

It remains to be seen how large Mr. Musk’s team will be, as well as what his own status will be. Some transition officials have suggested he could become a “special government employee,” a status that can be paid or unpaid and has more flexible rules for personal financial disclosures than what is required of ordinary employees.

 

Should he do that, Mr. Musk, the richest man in the world, would almost certainly forgo a salary. But there could be legal implications to how the Trump administration ends up defining Mr. Musk’s role and how DOGE fits in the executive branch bureaucracy.

 

One issue involves ethics rules, including financial disclosures and prohibitions on certain conflicts of interest, like limits on the ability of former special government employees to lobby on behalf of certain private interests after having worked on relevant topics during temporary service.

 

In particular, all government employees, including special temporary ones, are subject to a criminal conflict of interest law that bars them from participating in official matters in which they or their families or organizations have a financial interest. Because some of Mr. Musk’s companies have contracts with the federal government, that statute would seem to bar DOGE from working on related issues if he takes on such status.

 

If Mr. Musk or his staff were to become special government employees, they would have to file financial disclosure forms. If they decide to pass up sizable government salaries, however, the Trump administration could keep those records secret from the public.

 

There would also be implications for government transparency laws.

 

One such law is the Federal Advisory Committee Act,  which regulates boards, panels, councils and other types of committees that work with people from outside the government to provide advice to the executive branch.

 

If Mr. Musk does not seek special government employee status for himself and all his staff members and everyone else who provides input, the act would seem to apply to DOGE’s work. Among other things, the law says that all meetings of such committees are to be conducted in public, and all the documents submitted to such a panel or produced by it are also supposed to be available to the public.

 

Mr. Musk has not yet determined whether he will take on the status and obligations of being a special government employee, according to his allies.

 

Another relevant issue is the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. It allows members of the press or the public to request access to official records, with certain exceptions, and to file lawsuits for court orders requiring their disclosure.

 

The president and his immediate staff in the White House whose sole function is to advise him are considered to be exempt from FOIA requests. But much of the larger bureaucracy surrounding them is subject to such requests.

 

Maggie Haberman is a senior political correspondent reporting on the 2024 presidential campaign, down ballot races across the country and the investigations into former President Donald J. Trump. More about Maggie Haberman

 

Charlie Savage writes about national security and legal policy. More about Charlie Savage

 

Jonathan Swan is a political reporter covering the 2024 presidential election and Donald Trump’s campaign. More about Jonathan Swan

 

Theodore Schleifer is a Times reporter covering campaign finance and the influence of billionaires in American politics. More about Theodore Schleifer