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Elon Musk plans to remain a presence in Washington, even if he’ll be spending a bit less time on the Department of Government Efficiency’s work — which he thinks will continue as long as President Donald Trump wants it to.
After becoming a fixture of Trump’s White House during its first 100 days, presiding over broad federal cuts and firings that thrilled Republicans while sparking public protests that at times shifted into vandalism against his Tesla car company — the face of DOGE is now planning to directly manage it less, saying it’s gotten into a “rhythm.” Musk sat down with a small group of reporters on Wednesday night to discuss his work.
“DOGE is a way of life, like Buddhism,” Musk said Wednesday night of his imminent shift in focus to running his companies, adding that he believes he’s built up a system that can survive longer-term.
Musk said that he believes the administration’s push for cuts could last all four years, although he acknowledged DOGE’s official deadline of July 4, 2026. DOGE will remain, he declared, “as long as the president wants” it to go on.
Musk came to Washington with an ambitious goal to cut government spending by $2 trillion, though that number was soon cut in half, and a mentality of moving quickly and breaking things. It was a mindset that shook up Twitter after he purchased it and reshaped it as X — and its effect on the US government was far more intense.
DOGE shuttered the US Agency for International Development and has taken a similar scythe to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, at the start of a long list of cuts. A fact sheet of “DOGE Wins” was provided to reporters who attended his Wednesday night briefing, one that also cited millions of dollars eliminated at the DOJ, DOGE’s effort to digitize federal retirement paperwork, and more.
But a big question mark remains: whether Musk can meet his own mark of $1 trillion in savings in fiscal year 2026. He said on Wednesday night that the $150 billion number he more recently referenced (now $160 billion, according to the DOGE website, which has taken some criticism for erroneous accounting) is a tally of DOGE’s work “thus far,” adding that $1 trillion was still “possible.”
That’s a matter, as Musk put it, of whether there’s “sufficient political will” among lawmakers and in the administration to get to $1 trillion: “It’s a long road to go … It’s sort of, how much pain is the Cabinet and Congress willing to take? Because it could be done, but it requires dealing with a lot of complaints.”
Musk, alongside three other top DOGE staffers, also said they have begun referring fraud cases to the Justice Department. Specifically on the voter fraud front, they said they’ve referred 57 cases, from “a very small sample of states.”
Musk alleged that there are “hundreds of thousands of cases of fraud,” but said since the DOJ can’t physically prosecute that number of cases, DOGE has been focused on referring cases “that seem to be the most clear-cut.”
He demurred when asked about the mistakes DOGE has made, even as he acknowledged some. Insisting that DOGE is getting things right 70-80% of the time and describing it as broadly “effective,” Musk admitted the successes have not always been at the level he’d like to see.
He’s having fun, though — 60% to 70% of the time, in his estimation.
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Musk isn’t fully departing from DOGE: He says he still expects to be involved with it even as he begins to focus more on his businesses. At this point, he noted, he’s working on DOGE one to two times a week on average, and plans to keep his “tiny” office in the West Wing. (“It has a view of nothing,” Musk said. But it does have “the biggest monitor.“)
When he’s in the capital, Musk said, he sometimes sleeps in the iconic Lincoln Bedroom at the White House. At one point, he described eating a bunch of ice cream after Trump told him to grab some from the kitchen.
“Don’t tell RFK,” he joked of the health secretary.
Musk insisted that he expects DOGE to “gain momentum,” even as he begins focusing more on his other work, and even though other aides involved in the effort might soon depart as well. He described himself, and some of those helping lead DOGE, as basically “Democrats from the 90s that got teleported into 2025.”
“Is Buddha needed for Buddhism?” he asked at one point, referencing the initiative’s future without him constantly helming it.
There are still potential future targets for DOGE, too: Other employees pointed out on Wednesday night that the Federal Reserve is pushing forward with a $2.5 billion plan to revamp its DC office space. After expressing shock at that price tag, Musk said that “we should certainly look to see if, indeed, the central bank is spending” that much on “interior design.”
And he said DOGE has not “yet” looked at Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
Notable
- Elon Musk also revealed he’s recommended that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth invest in more hypersonic missiles and long-range drones. “I think he’s in agreement,” Musk said of Hegseth.
- The New York Post first reported on the Federal Reserve’s plans to revamp its headquarters.