Elon Musk
announces exit from US government role after breaking with Trump on tax bill
The
billionaire CEO of Tesla thanked the president for the opportunity and said the
Doge mission ‘will only strengthen’
Guardian
staff and agencies
Thu 29 May
2025 03.19 BST
Elon Musk
has announced on social media that he is leaving his role in the Trump
administration, a departure the White House confirmed was in process on
Wednesday evening.
“As my
scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like
to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful
spending,” the billionaire wrote on X, his social media platform.
“The DOGE
mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout
the government,” he said, referring to his “department of government
efficiency.”
A White
House official told Reuters it was accurate Musk is leaving the administration
and his “off-boarding will begin tonight.”
The
departure of a man who once appointed himself Trump’s “first buddy” was quick
and unceremonious. Musk did not have a formal conversation with Trump before
announcing he was leaving the administration, according to a source with
knowledge of the matter, who added that his exit was decided “at a senior staff
level.”
Musk, the
world’s richest person, has defended his role as an unelected official who was
granted unprecedented authority by Trump to dismantle parts of the US
government. His 130-day mandate as a special government employee in the Trump
administration was set to expire about 30 May.
Both Musk
and the administration has said DOGE’s efforts to restructure and shrink the
federal government will continue.
Musk has
been signalling his departure from Washington, and his commitment to return his
business ventures, all week. He sharply criticised Trump’s spending plan, and
expressed frustration with the response to the efforts of his signature
“department of government efficiency.”
He
criticised the president’s marquee tax bill, calling it too expensive and a
measure that would undermine his work to make the government more “efficient.”
“The federal
bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised,” Musk told the Washington
Post on Tuesday. “I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill
battle trying to improve things in DC, to say the least.”
He also told
the Post that Doge had been turned into a “whipping boy” that was criticised
for anything that went wrong in the Trump White House.
Musk had
butted heads in private with some cabinet-level officials, and publicly
attacked White House trade adviser Peter Navarro as a “moron” for dismissing
Musk’s push for “zero tariffs” between the US and Europe.
Musk had
also recently expressed frustration to White House officials over a deal
between Abu Dhabi and OpenAI, the Sam Altman-led rival to Musk’s own AI
company, the New York Times reported. Musk had previously tried to derail the
deal unless his company was included in it, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The
billionaire’s recent “disillusionment” with politics was also influenced by the
failure of his Wisconsin judicial candidate, despite Musk spending $25m on the
race, the New York Times reported.
Trump and
DOGE have managed to cut nearly 12%, or 260,000, of the 2.3 million-strong
federal civilian workforce largely through threats of firings, buyouts and
early retirement offers, a Reuters review of agency departures found.
Musk’s
political activities have drawn protests and some investors have called for
Musk to leave his work as Trump’s adviser and manage Tesla more closely.
Having spent
nearly $300m to back Trump’s presidential campaign and other Republicans last
year, he said earlier this month he would substantially cut his political
spending. “I think I’ve done enough,” Musk said at an economic forum in Qatar.
While Musk
had told Trump’s advisers this year that he would give $100m to groups
controlled by the president’s team before the 2026 midterms, the New York Times
reported, the money had not yet come in as of this week.
Reuters and
Nick Robbins-Early contributed reporting
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