Elon Musk has officially left the Trump administration after serving just 128 days as a Special Government Employee, announcing his departure on his social media platform X on Wednesday.
“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President [Donald Trump] for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote. “The [DOGE] mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
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 @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2025
An anonymous White House staffer confirmed Musk’s exit to the AP, marking the end of a controversial stint, as per Variety.
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Musk’s departure came just one day after he publicly criticised Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” during an interview on CBS’s Sunday Morning. The legislation proposes major tax breaks for wealthy Americans, increases military spending and immigration funding, while cutting clean energy, nutrition, education, and health programs.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it,” Musk told CBS. He further added that the bill “undermines the work” of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), stating that the legislation “can be big or it could be beautiful. But I don’t know if it could be both.”
Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, was one of Trump’s biggest donors, contributing over $250 million to his campaign. When he joined the administration early in Trump’s second term, he aimed to cut $1 trillion from the federal budget – a goal he did not reach, according to the New York Times.
His role focused primarily on aggressively slashing government spending through DOGE, but with his sudden exit, the ambitious mission appears to have ended prematurely.
The timing of his departure, coming immediately after Musk’s public criticism of the controversial spending bill, hints at possible growing tensions between the tech entrepreneur and the President over fiscal priorities.
