The White House continues to face questions about billionaire and DOGE leader Elon Musk’s role and actions in the federal government.
Reporters at the White House press briefing asked Leavitt if Elon Musk was the DOGE administrator. At first, Leavitt responded by clarifying that Musk “oversees” DOGE but did not say directly whether he was the administrator.
The executive order Trump used to establish DOGE also stipulates the agency will be run by an administrator who “shall report to the White House Chief of Staff.”
“The president tasked Elon Musk to oversee the DOGE effort. There are career officials and there are political appointees who are helping run DOGE on a day-to-day basis,” Leavitt replied. “There are also individuals who have onboarded as political appointees at every agency across the board to work alongside President Trump’s cabinet to find and identify waste, fraud and abuse, and they are working on that effort every day.”
When pressed again later by a second reporter, Leavitt repeated that Musk “oversees the effort,” but then said he is not the administrator and is instead a special government employee, as the White House has previously said.
Since the creation of the department on Trump’s first day in office, he has faced questions over whether he has the authority to create a government agency, with some saying that authority lies with Congress, as well as many concerning the agency’s transparency and the legality of Musk’s role.
“…Elon Musk is a special government employee,” Leavitt said, restating that career officials and political appointees help run DOGE.
A special government employee, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior, is someone appointed to perform “important but limited” services to the government for no more than 130 days in a year. DOGE is supposed to be a temporary organization terminating in July 2026. A reporter followed up with a question around the president’s timeline for Musk.
“Musk has obviously been doing a lot of work. He’s been working every day, and a lot of the time, weekends,” the reporter said. “Is the White House expecting him to limit his work to 130 days?”
Citing the date, Leavitt told the reporter to ask again when that day comes.
“I think we’ve been here about 35 days, roughly, so ask me in another 100 days,” she said.
Leavitt also faced questions Tuesday about Musk’s authority as the head of DOGE. DOGE was created to identify and eliminate fraud, waste and abuse in the federal government, and has been instructing various government departments to put hundreds of employees on leave, as well as terminate some positions. Most recently, Musk sent out an email to federal workers demanding they send an email detailing what they did last week or be fired. Some department leaders directed their employees to ignore the email.
Leavitt insisted that Trump and DOGE are working in concert and that the entire administration is committed to the same priorities of eliminating government waste and inefficiencies. She said employees should look to agency leaders for clarification.
Musk will be at the first meeting of Trump’s new cabinet on Feb. 26, according to Leavitt.
