Elon Musk has officially left US President Donald Trump’s government. Musk spent the last few days teasing his departure suggesting he would be refocusing his attention on ventures like Tesla, SpaceX, and his social media network X.
“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 X.
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Musk began his tenure as a “special government employee” in February, which is a role he was able to hold for 130 days per a year. If Musk had worked every day since his appointment, he would have been ready to end his work with the government on May 30.
The White House confirmed the departure of Musk saying that the offboarding process began on May 28. According to sources speaking to The Guardian, Musk didn’t have a conversation with Trump about ending work with government. Those sources also said the decision was made to offboard Musk “at a senior staff level.”
In an interview with CBS on Tuesday, Musk said he was disappointed in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” He said it undermined cost-cutting efforts from DOGE as it increases overall spending in government.
Musk said, “I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both. My personal opinion.”
Musk was the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that aimed to cut up to $2 trillion from spending across the US government. It then revised those estimates down to $150 billion in April.
The scheme’s official tracker says it has beaten that goal by saving $175 billion so far, but there are some discrepancies in the numbers such as including schemes that were canceled before DOGE’s introduction.
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Previously, Musk had said he would be reducing his work in the US government drastically, but he had planned to continue to contribute one or two days a week to the project.
Tesla has seen problems including protests against Musk’s role in government, and a severe drop in sales across the first few months of 2025. The company has reaffirmed its commitment to Musk as CEO despite rumors it was looking to replace him.
Last week, there were multiple outages on X. On Saturday, Musk said, “Back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms. I must be super focused on 𝕏/xAI and Tesla (plus Starship launch next week), as we have critical technologies rolling out.”
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About James Peckham
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