White House refutes report Elon Musk is leaving DOGE ‘in coming weeks’

The White House refuted reports on Wednesday of the imminent departure of Tesla CEO and special government employee Elon Musk.

A post on X from Rachel Bade, Politico Capital Bureau Chief and Senior Washington columnist, claimed that Musk would be “stepping back in the coming weeks from his current role.” Bade categorized the article as a “scoop” and said that the information reportedly came from what President Donald Trump “told his inner circle” and Cabinet members. 

Bade claimed that Trump still was supportive of Musk but that “both men have decided in recent days that it will soon be time for Musk to return to his businesses and take on a supporting role.” She also said that “Trump administration insiders & many outside allies have become frustrated with his unpredictability & view the billionaire as a political liability.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied these claims and called the supposed scoop as “garbage.” She made the comments in a social media post on X early Wednesday afternoon.

“This “scoop” is garbage,” Leavitt said. “Elon Musk and President Trump have both *publicly* stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete.”

Musk quoted Leavitt’s post on his X account, commenting “Yeah, fake news.”

White House spokesman Harrison Fields was also critical of the Politico article, categorizing it as “fake news.”

“Politico has become a tabloid paper that would rather run fake news for clicks than real reporting,” Fields said of the Politico article to Fox News. “This is exactly why President Trump and DOGE have terminated millions of dollars in wasteful, government contracts to so-called news organizations that have diminished their credibility with the American people.” 

Musk is considered a “special government employee” and has been considered the unofficial head of the Department of Government Efficiency, since Trump established the office with an executive order on Jan. 20. 

According to multiple government websites, any “special government employee” is one who is “appointed to perform important, but limited, services to the Government, with or without compensation, for a period not to exceed 130 days during any period of 365 consecutive days.” The SGE was created by Congress in 1962 to help navigate the transition into office of a new presidential administration.

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However, even though a SGE is supposed to serve only 130 days, one can technically exceed the 130 days if it happens unexpectedly, according to the Government Accounting Office. In such a scenario, the person would still be considered an SGE for that year. 

Musk’s 130 days is scheduled to end on May 30. It remains to be seen if he will be an SGE who unexpectedly remains beyond the date.