US President Donald Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk has signalled that he is planning to step down from his cost-cutting role at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by the end of May after reducing the US deficit by $1 trillion, slimming current total federal spending levels down to about $6 trillion.
Fifty-three-year-old Tesla chief and several top aides at DOGE sat down for Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier”, where they talked about their work to improve America’s balance sheets and how they were reaching closer to their goal, which would halve the annual federal deficit.
Mr Musk, who was appointed as a special advisor to President Trump as he spearheaded the government’s cost-cutting efforts, said “he’s done”. He said his team was averaging “$4 billion a day” and had accomplished “most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within 130 days”.
“I think we will accomplish most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within [130 days],” Mr Musk told Baier when asked about how quickly he expected to achieve his cost-cutting target.
“Our goal is to reduce the waste and fraud by $4 billion a day, every day, seven days a week. And so far, we are succeeding…Unless this exercise is successful, the ship of America will sink,” he added.
That could mean that Mr Musk’s work of spearheading the DOGE operation could finish as soon as the end of May.
The DOGE chief and his seven team members- Aram Moghaddassi, Steve Davis, Brad Smith, Anthony Armstrong, Joe Gebbia, Tom Krause, and Tyler Hassen- further detailed their efforts to slash waste, fraud, and abuse in various government agencies.
“The government is not efficient, and there is a lot of waste and fraud, so we feel confident that a 15 per cent reduction can be done without affecting any of the critical government services,” Mr Musk said.
As per DOGE estimates, the department’s efforts, including workforce reductions, asset sales and contract cancellations, have saved US taxpayers $115 billion as of March 24.
“America will be solvent,” Mr Musk declared. “The critical programs that people depend upon will work, and it’s going to be a fantastic future. And are we going to get a lot of complaints along the way? Absolutely.”
Musk’s Remark After Tesla Protests
Elon Musk’s remarks about stepping down from the DOGE role came amid nationwide protests against his electric vehicle company, Tesla. In the last month, Tesla’s share price witnessed a steep decline and fell by over 5 per cent last Monday.
Speaking to staff in Austin last Thursday, Mr Musk admitted: “I’m stretched pretty thin. I have like 17 jobs.”
Talking about attacks and vandalism targeting his company, he noted that it sometimes ‘feels like Armageddon’ when he watches coverage of them on TV.
“There are times when there are rocky moments, a little bit of stormy weather…But what I’m here to tell you is that the future is incredibly bright and exciting, and we’re going to do things that no one, I think, has even dreamed of,” he told employees.
Mr Musk is also facing numerous lawsuits that claim DOGE acted without legal authority and violated privacy laws. So far, he has defended his work at DIGE and pushed back on mounting criticism of the massive disruption caused by the department’s work.