Washington (AP) – Elon Muskpreparing to take a step back from his work leading the Government Department of Effectivenesshad a request for journalists gathered in the White House to interview him: before he answered all the questions, he wanted someone to tell him a joke.
On Wednesday, the demand of the technological billionaire in the Roosevelt room underlined the surreal and idiosyncratic presence of the richest man in the world at the highest levels of American power. In recent months, his work reduction work of the hand Protests from his company of electric vehiclesTesla.
By thinking about his incongruous role and Doge in the American government, he said: “It is funny that we have Doge.”
“The absurdity of this does not seem, as, that we are in a simulation here or what is happening? But, as, it was a piece of meme at some point,” he said, laughing. “How did we get here?”
Elon Musk speaks during a meeting of the cabinet at the White House, Wednesday April 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP photo / Evan VUCCI)
Musk, dressed in all black but missing the two hats he had worn at the meeting of the previous cabinet on Wednesday, defended Doge’s work while he is preparing to reduce his role as government and spend more time in his businesses. But he gave misty answers on the work he had done and the future of Doge, and he seemed surprised by the intense reaction he had encountered.
“Being tirelessly attacked is not super fun,” he said. “Seeing the burn cars is not fun,” he added, referring to the cases of Tesla broken or burnt down.
“In the big scheme of things, I think we have been effective. Not as effective as I wish. I think we could be more effective,” said Musk. “But we have made progress.”
Doge’s large -scale elastics have encountered dozens of prosecution. DOGE attempts to access sensitive information from the government, including social security dataalso encountered resistance to court. And Democrats this week Unveiled an online tracker Given the federal funds approved by the Congress that DOGE has blocked, setting up a constitutional struggle between two branches of the government.
Musk would not offer examples of anything he would do differently, although Doge is far from his original savings objective and overestimated his progress.
DOGE had sought to reduce spending by $ 1 Billion. Musk estimates that it has reduced $ 160 billion so far and has recognized that it would be difficult to get anywhere nearly 1 dollars.
“It is sort of, how much pain and congress are ready to take?” Said Musk. “It can be done, but it requires dealing with many complaints.”
Musk did not detail any of these complaints and said he had a good relationship with President Donald Trump’s office. But when they were asked for clashes with certain members, in particular Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Musk said: “Sometimes there will be disagreements with the cabinet.”
He defended Doge’s attempts to access the personal data of the Americans, rejecting concerns about a potential “surveillance state”: “Do we not already have a state of surveillance?” He said Doge must access systems in his fraud hunt and said: “There must be a way to reconcile inappropriate payments.”
He said that Doge had dismissed alleged fraud to the Ministry of Justice, although he offered few details, including the number of references. Antonio Gracias, a musk investor working for Doge, underlined the indictment last week of an Iraqi man Living in New York for accusations, he voted illegally in the 2020 elections. The American prosecutors said that Doge had helped the investigation.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said that DOGE “works in close collaboration with the DoJ to identify potential fraud”.
Musk recognized that there were cases where they had to restore the jobs of civil servants who, in his words, were “accidentally released”, such as “some people who did important regulatory work or took care of national parks”.
When he was asked if he had found areas where he had recommended efficiency gains beyond the cuts, Musk flew to the country’s military strategy and said that he had repeatedly recommended to the defense secretary Pete Hegseth that he should spend more money on hypersonic missiles and long-range drones rather than crew systems.
Musk said DOGE is also working on improving the connectivity of the country’s air traffic control system and plans to improve its software, but the main objective of DOGE is “to try to stop unnecessary and fraudulent expenses”.
But on other points, he was vague.
Who will lead Doge when he leaves?
“Doge is a way of life,” he said. “Like Buddhism.”
Will he keep the title of principal advisor to the president?
“I guess.”
Will Duge end his work by July 2026, as originally indicated?
“If the President wants us to stick to this date, we will stick to that date.”
How many approximately 100 doge employees will stay at work while it ends?
“Some will remain on the move. Some will not. So it’s them. It is essentially a volunteer organization. ”
Is DOGE in the process of ending?
“No, I think it will take momentum.”
Musk established a friendship with Trump in the 2024 campaign and spent nearly $ 300 million for the elections – the majority of which has helped help the Republican recover the White House. He has since become a constant presence with Trump for much of the first 100 days of the administration, regularly traveling with the president at his home in Florida on weekends.
Musk said on Wednesday that he worked on Doge seven days a week during the first months of the administration, sometimes sleeping in Lincoln’s room at Trump’s invitation.
He refused to say how many times he had slept in the White House, but said that the president had implored him to try the caramel ice cream of the kitchen.
“Do not say to RFK,” joked Musk, referring to Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Musk described him as an “intense period” during which he was trying to understand and map the federal government.
“It’s a startup, effectively. A new administration is like a startup,” he said.
But he said that he now reduced his work on Doge, spending one to two days a week, and he plans to be less in Washington.
“Now, we get more rhythm, so the time that is necessary for me to spend here is much less,” he said.
He also underlined the limitation of his status as an employee of the special government, which means that he can only work 130 days in a period of 365 days.
He said he would keep his “tiny” office on the second floor of the west wing which, according to him, has “a view of nothing”-a feature film, he said, which protects him.
“It is more difficult to shoot me,” he said. “There is not a good line of view.”
___
The writer Associated Press Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.
