Elon Musk has announced on social media that he is leaving his role in the Trump administration, a departure the White House confirmed was in process on Wednesday evening.
“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,” the billionaire wrote on X, his social media platform.
“The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” he said, referring to his “department of government efficiency.”
A White House official told Reuters it was accurate Musk is leaving the administration and his “off-boarding will begin tonight.”
The departure of a man who once appointed himself Trump’s “first buddy” was quick and unceremonious. Musk did not have a formal conversation with Trump before announcing he was leaving the administration, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, who added that his exit was decided “at a senior staff level”.
Musk, the world’s richest person, has defended his role as an unelected official who was granted unprecedented authority by Trump to dismantle parts of the US government. His 130-day mandate as a special government employee in the Trump administration was set to expire about 30 May.
Both Musk and the administration has said DOGE’s efforts to restructure and shrink the federal government will continue.
Musk has been signalling his departure from Washington, and his commitment to return his business ventures, all week. He sharply criticised Trump’s spending plan, and expressed frustration with the response to the efforts of his signature “department of government efficiency” (Doge).
He criticised the president’s marquee tax bill, calling it too expensive and a measure that would undermine his work to make the government more “efficient”.
“The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised,” Musk told the Washington Post on Tuesday. “I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC, to say the least.”
He also told the Post that Doge had been turned into a “whipping boy” that was criticised for anything that went wrong in the Trump White House.
Musk had butted heads in private with some cabinet-level officials, and publicly attacked White House trade adviser Peter Navarro as a “moron” for dismissing Musk’s push for “zero tariffs” between the US and Europe.
Musk had also recently expressed frustration to White House officials over a deal between Abu Dhabi and OpenAI, the Sam Altman-led rival to Musk’s own AI company, the New York Times reported. Musk had previously tried to derail the deal unless his company was included in it, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The billionaire’s recent “disillusionment” with politics was also influenced by the failure of his Wisconsin judicial candidate, despite Musk spending $25m on the race, the New York Times reported.
Trump and Doge have managed to cut nearly 12%, or 260,000, of the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce largely through threats of firings, buyouts and early retirement offers, a Reuters review of agency departures found.
Musk’s political activities have drawn protests and some investors have called for Musk to leave his work as Trump’s adviser and manage Tesla more closely.
Having spent nearly $300m to back Trump’s presidential campaign and other Republicans last year, he said earlier this month he would substantially cut his political spending. “I think I’ve done enough,” Musk said at an economic forum in Qatar.
While Musk had told Trump’s advisers this year that he would give $100m to groups controlled by the president’s team before the 2026 midterms, the New York Times reported, the money had not yet come in as of this week.
Reuters and Nick Robbins-Early contributed reporting
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