Elon Musk Exits DOGE: His Achievements And Controversies During Trump Administration Stint

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Thursday announced his exit from the Donald Trump administration, abandoning his pre-election promise of cutting $2 trillion “wasteful” US budget spending. Musk had joined the Trump administration as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an external agency aimed at cutting costs in the US government.

During the election campaign, Musk spent over $250 million supporting Trump, drawing heavy criticism over his role in influencing the Trump administration’s decisions. In the 100 days since Donald Trump returned to the White House, the Tesla CEO was seen tagging along with the President at many key events, including the recent high-stakes trip to Saudi Arabia.

However, he took to X on Thursday to share that his “scheduled time as a Special Government Employee” has come to an end. “I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” the X post read. Musk also said that while his tenure with the US government has ended, the “DOGE mission” will continue to operate.

During the US presidential election campaigns, Musk, on multiple occasions, had promised to cut $2 trillion “wasteful” spending from the US government budget. Following Trump assuming the office, the DOGE agency was formalised and Musk took sweeping measures to cut drastic government spending. During this time, the US aid agency was shut and thousands of federal government employees were laid off.

After commencing the DOGE mission, Musk later adjusted his target to $1 trillion. As of now, the DOGE’s website claims that $160 billion has been saved by the agency by cancelling contracts, selling assets, and exposing fraud. However, many of these savings have been disputed by critics of the Trump administration.

In some cases, unverified entries and significant errors were also found. One of these reports included a claim of cancelling an $8 million worth contract that was erroneously listed at $8 billion, according to a CBS News report.

While leading DOGE, Musk had claimed that the US government could save $500 to $700 billion annually by cutting “fraud” and “waste” in entitlement programs. However, the Government Accountability Office estimates the annual “fraud” figure to be between $233 and $521 billion.

Additionally, the CBS report states that concerns have been raised over the cost of Trump’s abrupt dismissal of thousands of federal workers. According to Partnership for Public Service estimates, the move may cost $135 billion due to paid leave and productivity costs. Moreover, there is a looming cost of potential lawsuits against the administration. The White House has dismissed this claim.

Justifying the workforce cuts, Musk had described the bureaucracy as a "dictatorship" hostile to President Trump’s agenda. He then introduced weekly update reports, requiring federal workers to detail their accomplishments each week.

In February, Musk had warned on X that any non-responses "will be taken as a resignation." This also led to some confusion, as some agency heads had instructed their employees not to respond to the emails. This included the FBI and the State Department.

Trump had tasked his advisor, Musk, to dismantle the agency, which was involved in global humanitarian efforts. Both Trump and Musk labelled the USAID agency as a "criminal organisation", which clashes with the “America First” policy.

Over 90% of USAID awards were cut as Trump cracked down on spending. Many staff members were placed on leave and are unlikely to return, according to Reuters. In January, the US president introduced a 90-day foreign aid pause.

“As of 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 23, 2025, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally,” the USAID official website now reads.

One of the most controversial moves under Musk’s DOGE mission was the agency’s access to sensitive government data. In February, a report by the Washington Post claimed that DOGE accessed highly restricted federal employee records, including sensitive Treasury and State Department officials. In response, a White House official had told Reuters that the said workers had the necessary clearances, but the move was later restricted by a federal court.

A Reuters report, in April, also claimed DOGE was using AI to monitor federal employees, looking for agency communications that might be “hostile” towards President Trump. The incident had triggered concerns surrounding privacy violations and a lack of transparency about DOGE’s role in the government.