Tech billionaire Elon Musk has announced that he is leaving the administration of United States President Donald Trump, where he led a months-long project to cut costs in the federal government. “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,” Musk wrote on the social media platform X.
Musk’s departure coincides with the 130-day limit for “special government employees”. During his tenure, Musk headed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a initiative aimed at reducing government expenditures. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” Musk said.
Despite Musk’s exit, the White House said DOGE efforts to cut federal spending and restructure the government would continue. Musk had promised to slash at least $1 trillion from the US federal budget; however, the DOGE website shows it has only achieved about $175 billion in savings.
The relationship between Musk and Trump appears to have cooled since last year, when Musk poured nearly $300 million into Trump’s presidential run. Musk publicly expressed concerns about Trump’s flagship “big, beautiful bill”, a 1,000-page piece of legislation that extends the president’s 2017 tax cuts while adding work requirements for food assistance and Medicaid.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk told CBS Sunday Morning. Trump responded, “We will be negotiating that bill, and I’m not happy about certain aspects of it, but I’m thrilled by other aspects of it.” If passed, the bill is expected to raise the US deficit by $3.9 trillion by 2034.
Musk’s approval rating for his work with the Trump administration was 35% in an April opinion poll from The Washington Post and ABC News. Following increased public scrutiny, Musk said he would scale back his political spending and focus on companies like Tesla.