The White House says Elon Musk has ‘no authority to make government decisions’ despite DOGE role
Elon Musk is actually “senior advisor to the president”. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The White House has said in a declaration that Elon Musk has “no authority to make government decisions” despite appearing to have a US government position in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
After previously being named by President Donald Trump to lead the US government’s newly created DOGE alongside Republican former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a White House spokesperson confirmed that Musk’s actual title is “senior advisor to the president”. DOGE aims to “maximise governmental efficiency and productivity”.
The three-page declaration states that Musk has “no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself”, and appears to go against President Trump and Musk’s public discussions of the department.
At the Super Bowl this month, Trump appeared to attribute Musk to leading DOGE. “I’m going to tell [Elon Musk] very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education,” Trump said in an interview at the sporting event to Fox News. “He’s going to find the same thing … Then I’m going to go, go to the military. Let’s check the military.”
The documents, provided to a federal court by Joshua Fisher, director of the White House Office of Administration, confirmed that Musk is not the official administrator of the department. However, Fisher did not state who the administrator is.
In recent moments, DOGE has been at the heart of controversial moves to cut federal funding and foreign aid. Musk himself has denied staging a “hostile takeover” of the US government, telling reporters in an 11 February press conference to ensure reporters he wants to add “common sense controls” to the Trump administration.
Asked if the executive order supported accusations that he is orchestrating a “hostile takeover” of the US government, Musk said: “The public voted for major government reform… and they’re going to get what they voted for. And that’s what democracy is all about.
“We have this unelected, fourth unconstitutional branch of government, which is the bureaucracy, which has in a lot of ways, currently more power than any elected representative,” he added.
Musk added that he plans to regulate the government Treasury, saying: “Your tax dollars need to be spent wisely on things that matter to the people … it’s just common sense. It’s not draconian or radical.”
He further attempted to dispel concerns that an unelected billionaire is being given such overreach, saying DOGE is “trying to be as transparent as possible.”
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