Tesla CEO Elon Musk listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
President Donald Trump lauded billionaire Elon Musk on Friday as the Tesla CEO wrapped up his time in government service after four turbulent months leading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way,” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social, adding, “Elon is terrific!”
Still, Musk said Sunday that while he has been a strong Trump ally, he doesn’t always support the administration’s policies.
“I’m a little stuck in a bind,” he said on CBS’s “Sunday Morning,” “where I’m like, well, I don’t want to speak up against the administration but I also don’t want to take responsibility for everything the administration’s doing.”
DOGE cut tens of thousands of federal jobs within the first few months of Trump’s tenure. Musk has defended his government record, but acknowledged in the CBS interview that “DOGE became the whipping boy for everything. So if there was some cut, real or imagined, everyone would blame DOGE.”
He’s also dismayed by the GOP’s multitrillion-dollar tax and spending package Congress is currently debating. The legislation is projected to add trillions of dollars to the U.S. debt.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly,” he said, adding that it “undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.”
Despite Musk’s concerns, Trump officials intend to move his initiatives forward. Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, told CNN on Sunday the administration will work with Congress and otherwise use “executive tools” to move forward with DOGE’s cuts.
Pressed about members of Congress saying that DOGE may have overreached in its efforts to reorganize government, Vought said: “I don’t doubt that Congress is going to make accusations. Some of them come by their own watchdogs, but those watchdogs have been historically wrong. And that’s not going to stop us from moving forward to bank the DOGE cuts.”
DOGE, which Musk once predicted would cut trillions of dollars in government spending, has come nowhere close to that level, according to its own numbers, which have come under question.
Musk’s tenure in politics has also hurt his public image and soured consumers’ views of Tesla, whose cars and showrooms became a target for arsonists and vandals.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.