President Donald Trump said plainly to Congress that billionaire Elon Musk is running DOGE, the agency that is embedding inside federal agencies and slashing contracts while pushing to fire thousands of workers.
That might be accurate, but it is also at odds with the careful position the government is staking out in court fights challenging some of DOGE’s actions.
‘I have created the brand new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, perhaps you’ve heard of it,’ Trump said in his speech to Congress Tuesday night. ‘Which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight,’ he said, to hoots and whistles from applauding congressional Republicans. Musk stood, then gave a salute.
White House lawyers have described Musk’s role as something different from an executive, as plaintiffs challenge firings of federal workers, members of independent agencies, and independent inspectors general.
‘Like other senior White House advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,’ goes one recent court filing.
The White House has clarified that Musk is a ‘Special Government Employee,’ who serves on a temporary basis. The world’s richest man spent millions to help get Trump elected, then started the Department of Government Efficiency on a volunteer basis.
Trump also spoke at length about Musk, saying he was ‘working very hard’, adding: He didn’t need this, and telling him ‘We appreciate it.’
President Trump praised the Department of Government Efficiency which he said was ‘headed by Elon Musk’
As if to underline the point, Trump read through a series of programs he ripped as wasteful – many of them having been highlighted by Musk himself on his X feed.
It included ‘$45 million for Diversity Equity and Inclusion scholarships in Burma’ plus ‘$32 million for a left wing propaganda operation in Moldova’ and ‘$10 million for mail circumcision in Mozambique.’
Musk even looked like a boss for the occasion, donning a dark suit instead of the ‘tech support’ t-shirt and MAGA cap he has taken to wearing, even inside the Oval Office.
Trump also tore into what he called ‘shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program.’
He then read through information, also posted by Musk, purporting to show very old people on Social Security rolls.
‘It lists 3.6 million people from ages 110 to 119 I don’t know any of them. I know some people that are rather elderly, but not quite that elderly,’ Trump ad-libbed.
Musk saluted when the president praised him during his speech
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) stressed bipartisan and kitchen table issues in the Democratic response, while hammering Trump for his Oval Office meeting with the Ukrainian president and for Elon Musk’s exploits
In fact Social Security experts have said there are existing controls to keep people beyond a reasonable limit from getting checks, and that the problem is people whose names are in a database from the time before electronic collection of death information. It is distinct from lists of people actually getting paid benefits.
Trump even had a line certain to delight Musk, who earned a trip to Mar-a-Lago on Air Force One last weekend, and who spoke at Trump’s first cabinet meeting where Trump joked that any cabinet secretaries who had complaints about him would get booted.
‘We are going to conquer the vast frontiers of science, and we are going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond,’ Trump said.
Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) also singled out Musk during her rebuttal, but in less flattering terms.
‘Is there anyone in America who is comfortable with him and his gang of 20 year olds using their own computer servers to poke through your tax returns, your health information and your bank accounts?’ she asked.
