Elon Musk on Tuesday defended the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside President Trump, who invited Musk to speak and sat at the resolute desk as the tech mogul gave a lengthy address.
“The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get,” Musk said in response to pushback his work at DOGE has received. “That’s what democracy is all about.”
Musk also said he wants to add “commonsense controls” to government, arguing that his ideas are not “draconian.” And, when asked about personal conflicts of interest with his work overhauling the government, Musk replied, “transparency is what builds trust.”
In the first few weeks of Trump’s presidency, Musk has led an effort to dismantle federal agencies, buy out hundreds of thousands of federal workers from their jobs and take over payment systems within the Treasury Department and other agencies.
The work has sparked numerous lawsuits and pushback from Democratic lawmakers, state office holders and unions representing federal works.
Tuesday’s striking moment at the Oval Office featured the leader of the free world inviting the richest man in the world to give a defense of his goals in front of press brought in for the occasion. One of Musk’s young children pulled at his coat at times as the billionaire, wearing a black “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, argued the federal bureaucracy can’t have more power than any elected representative.
“If money is spent badly, if your taxpayer dollars are not spent in a sensible or critical manner, then that’s not okay. Your tax dollars need to be spent wisely, on things that matter,” Musk said, defending the goal of DOGE.
As examples of waste, Musk mentioned that people who are 150 years old, so are “probably dead,” are receiving Social Security checks and that bureaucrats with a salary of “a few $100,000” have “somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth.” He said that happened with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees, suggesting they “got wealthy at the taxpayers’ expense.”
Musk offered no specific evidence to back up these allegations.
The president said on Tuesday that he thought it was “crazy” that DOGE has been able to find so much fraud and waste in the federal government, arguing “we had no idea we were going to find this much.”
Trump also said the White House is watching for if there’s a conflict of interest or lack of transparency on anything Musk is working on, noting that he is “a big businessman” doing this work.
A federal judge issued a Saturday ruling that prevents DOGE from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment systems by blocking political appointees and special government employees, like Musk and DOGE personnel.
On Tuesday, the court clarified the ruling, saying that it does not extend to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Meanwhile, Trump and his allies have denounced the original, sweeping ruling.
Trump, in the Oval Office, said the judge has “certain leanings” and that he hopes the courts would allow him to do what he was elected to do.
“It seems hard to believe that judges want to stop us,” Trump said. “It seems hard to believe that a judge could say we don’t want you to do that. Then we have to look at the judges because I think it’s a very serious violation.”
Musk doubled down on defending DOGE’s work at the Treasury Department in particular.
“The stuff we’re doing with the Treasury Department is so basic that you can’t believe it doesn’t exist already,” he said, adding that the U.S. currently pays some “terrorists organizations, known fraudsters” that belong on a “do not pay list.”
Musk did not offer specifics on this declaration, but later said that if he is wrong, especially in making statements about what the federal government spends money on, he will accept corrections.
“Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. So, nobody is going to bat a thousand. We will make mistakes and we’ll act quickly to correct any mistakes,” the Tesla CEO said.
DOGE has targeted various parts of the federal government, including the USAID and is now looking to similarly gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
This story was updated at 5:10 p.m.
