On Wednesday evening, Elon Musk announced on X that his time as part of the Department of Government Efficiency was officially at an end.
As a Special Government Employee, he is restricted to serving 130 days – a period which was due to finish this week.
However, as well as thanking Donald Trump for the opportunity to “reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote that: “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
So what will happen to the controversial government agency now that its de-facto chief is stepping down? Here’s what we know:
Will DOGE continue?
The agency’s crusade to slash wasteful government spending isn’t going anywhere, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Musk and Trump previously characterized DOGE, formerly the U.S. Digital Service, as “tech support” to end “waste, fraud and abuse.” DOGE is not so much an agency as an idea, according to the White House.
Employees within federal agencies are doing its work and, despite media perception, Musk has simply functioned as an adviser.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Leavitt said that although Musk was leaving the agency the “entire cabinet” were still committed to DOGE’s core values
“That’s why they were working hand in hand with Elon Musk, and they’ll continue to work with the respective DOGE employees who have onboarded as political appointees at all of these agencies,” she said: “So surely, the mission of DOGE will continue.”
So who will lead DOGE and will Musk’s staffers stay?
Leavitt reiterated at Thursday’s briefing that the DOGE leaders “are each and every member of the President’s Cabinet and the President himself,” who were all “wholeheartedly committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse from our government.”
Questions about a specific leader of DOGE had swirled following the additional departure of Musk’s right-hand man at the agency, Steve Davis.
Davis had been a key leader at the agency and handled day-to-day operations including hiring and firing, staffers told The Wall Street Journal, adding that he had helped guide the work of the DOGE engineers working across various agencies.
In addition, The Journal reported that much of the work done by DOGE will now be undertaken by the Office of Management and Budget – which is headed up by director Russell Vought. Vought has worked closely alongside Musk since 2024 and the two have driven the administration’s vision of slashing the federal workforce and reducing spending.
As far as Musk’s underlings were concerned, Leavitt highlighted that many were now “political appointees and employees of our government.”
“To the best of my knowledge, all of them intend to stay and continue this important work,” she said.
What has the reaction been to the departure?
While Musk did receive an outpouring of gratitude from fans on his own social media site, who hailed him as “courageous” and “a true American patriot,” others were less impressed.
“Finally rooting out waste and abuse,” former Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz joked in response to the news, with Democratic rep. Jasmine Crockett echoing the sentiment.
“Elon came to Washington thinking he could run the government like one of his companies—firing people left and right, gutting essential services, and tearing this s*** up from the ground up,” she wrote. “It’s time for a full investigation into the damage he’s caused and for the truth to come to light.”
“Elon Musk in government is completely unprecedented, but there has never been a single person, certainly not a single non-presidential person, who has been as utterly and pointlessly destructive as Elon Musk,” Robert Weissman, co-executive director of Public Citizen, a progressive consumer rights advocacy group, previously told The Independent.
“He has commercial motivations,” he said, “but primarily he’s been engaged in an authoritarian wrecking project with no actual purpose, but really deadly impact.”
Trump and the White House did not specifically respond to Musk’s announcement, but a spokesperson directed The Independent to Leavitt’s comments at Thursday’s press briefing.
Alex Woodward contributed to this report.
