After spending 130 days working to dismantle entire federal government agencies, firing tens of thousands of civil servants and sparking dozens of lawsuits over potential misuse of Americans’ personal data, the world’s wealthiest man was rewarded with a gold-plated skeleton key that can be purchased for nearly $8,000 on eBay.
Seated at the iconic desk hewed from timbers harvested from H.M.S. Resolute, President Donald Trump praised Elon Musk for his four months of work leading the “Department of Government Efficiency,” a role from which Musk is required to depart due to his now-former status as a Special Government Employee, which had let him work for free without complying with any financial disclosure rules but only for 130 days per year.
He called the Tesla and SpaceX CEO “one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced” and hailed him for having led what Trump called “the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations.”
“Elon gave an incredible service. There’s nobody like him, and he had to go through the slings and the arrows, which is a shame, because he’s an incredible patriot. The good news is that 90% of the country knows that, and they appreciate it, and they really appreciate what he did,” he said.
Trump then presented Musk with a trinket that dated back to the 47th president’s prior term as the 45th President of the United States: A “Key to the White House.”
It was an oversize, gold-plated key in a wooden presentation box, with an engraving of the Executive Mansion on the inside of the lid.
Musk was not by any means the first person to be gifted with this Trumpian trinket. In his 2022 memoir Breaking History, Trump’s son-in-law and ex-senior adviser Jared Kushner recounted how he’d “whipped out” the same gift for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a September 2020 meeting in the Oval Office.
At the time, Trump called it a “a special token of affection, given by myself and the First Lady to the Prime Minister and the First Lady of Israel.”
“And it’s a key — we call it a key to the White House. And it’s a key to our country and to our hearts,” he said as he handed it over to Netanyahu.
Kushner wrote that Trump had told Netanyahu that the key he gifted him was “the first key I’m giving to anyone” and claimed that it would grant the Israeli leader entry to the White House “even when I’m not president anymore.”
As he handed Musk the same tchotchke nearly five years later, Trump said it was “a little special something” that he gives to “very special people” as “a presentation from our country.”
It’s not known how many of the souvenirs have been given out by Trump, but a search by The Independent revealed that identical items have been listed on eBay, with two current listings showing prices of $7,250 and $7,950. The auction site RR Auction also shows another of them having sold for $3,670.
Musk, who wore a black “Make America Great Again” cap, a black suit and a t-shirt with the words “The Dogefather” on it and appeared to look around the Oval Office aimlessly as Trump spoke, accepted the box from the president as he told reporters that his time in the administration “necessarily had to end” and had been “a limited time.”
But somewhat paradoxically, he said the DOGE team he put in place “will only grow stronger over time” and compared DOGE to “sort of Buddhism.”
“It’s like a way of life. So it is permeating throughout the government, and I’m confident that over time, we will see a trillion dollars of savings and reduction in a trillion dollars of waste,” he said.
He added that he will “continue to be visiting” Washington “as a friend and adviser” to Trump and stressed that he looked forward to being back in the Oval Office as he praised the president for his redecorating efforts, which have seen the iconic space take on a distinctively gilded look through copious amounts of gold leaf on the walls and ceiling.
Musk also sported a noticeable black eye during the press conference, and when a reporter asked him what had happened to him, he blamed his young son, X Æ A-12, who goes by “Little X.”
“I was horsing around with Little X, and I said ‘go ahead, punch me in the face. And he did,” he said.
But the centibillionaire’s face wasn’t the only one that was discussed during the hour-long session.
After he and Musk spoke, Trump took questions on multiple topics, including one about a recent incident involving French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, during which the French First Lady appeared to strike her husband as they were exiting an aircraft earlier this week.
Asked whether he had any advice for his French counterpart, Trump — who has been married three times and divorced twice — replied: “Make sure the door remains closed.”
He added that he’d spoken with Macron recently and said the French first couple was “fine.”
“They’re two really good people. I know him very well, and I don’t know what that was all about, but I know him very well, and they’re fine,” he said.
The hour-long back-and-forth with reporters marked the formal end of Musk’s time in government, during which his DOGE organization was often at odds with members of Trump’s cabinet and the wealthy GOP donor found himself on the outs with Trump after he donated millions and made personal appearances on behalf of a Wisconsin judicial candidate who lost badly despite his efforts.
Musk also appeared to break with Trump over the president’s “Big Beautiful Bill” spending package, which doesn’t lock in any of the slashing and burning the billionaire and his DOGE team have done during his time in government.
His stated goal as the (apparently informal) head of DOGE was to slash government spending and save American taxpayers money. Before the inauguration, he claimed he could cut $1 trillion from the federal budget before September 30 by ending “waste, fraud, and abuse” — already a downgrade from his $2 trillion promise on the campaign trail. He further claimed that “most of the work” required to make this happen would be done within 130 days.
As of May 26, DOGE’s online “wall of receipts” touts estimated savings of $175bn since the start of Trump’s term, or $1,086.96 per taxpayer. The problem is that this figure may simply be nonsense.
But Trump wasn’t asked about Musk’s comments about his spending package as he sent off his erstwhile ally with the ersatz gold key.
He did, however, weigh in on the trial of hip-hop mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, a former contestant on the president’s reality television show, who is now in the dock on sex trafficking charges.
Asked whether he’d consider a pardon for the disgraced musician, who he’d once called “a good friend,” Trump demurred by saying he hadn’t been watching the trial “too closely” while leaving the door open by promising to “look at what’s happening.”
“I haven’t seen him. I haven’t spoken to him in years. He used to really like me a lot, but I think when I ran for politics, he sort of that relationship busted up, from what I read,” Trump said.
“I would certainly look at the facts if I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don’t like me, it wouldn’t have any impact on me.”
Io Dodds contributed reporting from San Francisco
