Elon Musk has spoken out on the reason he'll be leaving the White House after reports emerged that Donald Trump had discussed his imminent departure with his 'inner circle'.
News of the president's discussions emerged in a report from Politico published yesterday (April 2), which cited 'three Trump insiders who were granted anonymity to describe the evolving relationship'.
The report claimed that Trump had told his 'inner circle', which includes members of his Cabinet, that Musk would be 'stepping back' from his current role after he helped launch the Department of Government Efficiency and cut federal spending.
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Musk's role within the government has long been a source of confusion, with the White House stating in February that Musk was a 'senior adviser' to Trump, while he has elsewhere been described as a 'special government employee'.
There were claims he was in charge, then suggestions that he had 'no actual authority to make government decisions', but now it's become clear that Musk likely won't be hanging around forever anyway.
The insiders told Politico that Trump is pleased with the work of Musk and DOGE, but that both men had decided in 'recent days' that it would soon be time for Musk to step back.
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In the wake of the reports, Musk wrote on Twitter that the claims were 'fake news' as he'd already been planning to leave as part of an existing time limit on his role.
Since Musk is a 'special government employee', his work within the government is not set to exceed 130 days, ABC News reports, meaning his term would be up around the end of May.
Musk's comment on Twitter came in response to a post from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who wrote: "This 'scoop' is garbage. 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."
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When asked by reporters about the 130 day limit, Trump indicated that Musk had other duties to take care of outside of DOGE.
"Well, I think he's … amazing. But I also think he's got a big company to run. And so, at some point he's going to be going back. He wants to," the POTUS said.
Though Musk is expected to step back from DOGE in the coming weeks, one senior administration official told Politico the SpaceX founder is likely to retain an informal role as an adviser.
Topics: Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Politics
Emily Brown