A White House official has confirmed that Elon Musk is leaving the Trump administration after a considerable and tumultuous period working to restructure the federal government. In a key update, a White House official told Reuters that the billionaire Tesla CEO is indeed leaving the administration and his "off-boarding will begin tonight.”
Before his departure, Musk thanked President Donald Trump in an X post. “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,” he wrote. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Why is Elon Musk leaving the Trump administration?
Musk announced his exit a few days after criticising Trump’s newly introduced ‘Big, Beautiful’ spending bill. The Trump administration believes the bill will end up saving over $1.6 trillion in mandatory spending, including the largest-ever welfare reform.
Musk, however, expressed his disappointment with the bill. “I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing. I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both,” he said, while speaking to CBS News.
Following Musk’s criticism of the bill, President Trump said, “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.”
{{/usCountry}}Following Musk’s criticism of the bill, President Trump said, “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.”
{{/usCountry}}Musk opened up about his plans to leave he White House and DOGE to focus on his companies during a recent Tesla earnings call. “Starting next month, I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla, now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done,” he said at the time.