By Jaclyn Roth
8:33am PST, Feb 18, 2025
Who exactly is running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)? Apparently, it's not
Elon Musk!
In a legal filing from Monday, February 17,
Joshua Fisher — the director of the White House's Office of Administration — stated that the billionaire is "not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or the U.S. DOGE Service temporary organization."
"Mr. Musk is an employee of the White House office," Fisher wrote. "He holds that position as a non-career Special Government Employee ("SGE"). In that job, Mr. Musk is a Senior Advisor to the President."
Fisher added, "In his role as Senior Advisor to the President, Mr. Musk has no greater authority than other Senior White House Advisors. Like other Senior White House Advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions."
This is not what
Donald Trump has been saying about his pal all along. In November 2024, Trump announced that Musk would run DOGE alongside
Vivek Ramaswamy, who has since moved on from the job.
"I am pleased to announce that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency ("DOGE")," Trump said. "Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the 'Save America' Movement."
Recently, while speaking with Fox ahead of the
Super Bowl on February 9, the president, 78, said he was in touch with Musk, 53, about his duties.
"I'm going to tell [Elon Musk] very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education," he said. "He's going to find the same thing … Then I'm going to go, 'go to the military.' Let's check the military."
Musk has appeared to refer to himself as part of the
DOGE team multiple times as of late.
"Doge has not looked at, nor is there any interest in, private financial data. What would we even do with it?" he tweeted on February 4, in response to a post by Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who said DOGE is taking a "meat ax" to the federal government.
"DOGE is working 120 hour a week," Musk tweeted on Feb. 2. "Our bureaucratic opponents optimistically work 40 hours a week."
