Elon Musk has officially quit his role in the President Donald Trump’s administration, ending a 130-day stay in government.
Announcing his departure in a tweet, on his X account, Musk said: “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Musk had been leading the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, where he tried to reduce waste and save money in how the U.S. government works.
A White House official confirmed Musk’s exit, saying, “His off-boarding will begin tonight.”
Musk, world’s richest man, joined the administration as a special government employee, not a full-time staff member. He promised to help save up to $2 trillion, but official numbers show savings of around $175 billion.
Musk’s time in government wasn’t smooth. About 260,000 federal workers lost their jobs during his leadership, which led to protests, lawsuits, and complaints about how fast changes were happening. Many people said his ideas were too harsh for government work.
Tensions grew even more when Musk criticized President Trump’s new tax law. He called it “fiscally irresponsible” and said it went against the objectives of DOGE which is to save money. Some Trump administration members didn’t like that. According to Reuters, one official said Musk’s comments caused “frustration” inside the White House.
In court documents, White House official Joshua Fisher also made it clear Musk didn’t have real power to make final decisions. “Like other senior White House advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” Fisher stated.
Before quitting Trump’s administration on Wednesday, Musk had in the past, labelled the news of his departure “fake news” on his platform, X (formerly Twitter).
“I think Elon is amazing, but I also think he got a big company to run, so at some point he’s going to be going back.” The U.S. President had said weeks before Musk quit Trump’s administration.
“Time to get back to what matters,” Musk wrote in a post on X last week, before quitting DOGE Wednesday. “I’m now focused 24/7 on our core companies—Tesla, X, SpaceX, and xAI. I’ll be sleeping in factories, conference rooms, and server centers again.”
After the news broke, Tesla stock went up Thursday, with investors hopeful that Musk would now focus more on the company. Some experts say his return could help Tesla ahead of its new robotaxi launch.
