Elon Musk takes questions from reporters as President Trump looks on in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday.
JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
hide caption
toggle caption
JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
President Trump and Elon Musk appeared together from the Oval Office on Tuesday, where they defended their efforts to enact sweeping changes to the federal government and limit spending.
Musk — who is the richest man in the world — has been at the helm of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, a push to cut what he and Trump characterize as excessive government spending.
In the three weeks since Trump was sworn in, Musk has moved to cut billions in federal spending and effectively shut down the work of government institutions like the U.S. Agency for International Development. The moves have prompted a cascade of legal challenges and sparked uncertainty among federal workers as they await additional actions from DOGE.
Speaking to reporters with Musk at his side, Trump said DOGE has already resulted in the discovery of “billions and billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse,” adding that the final tally could eventually reach as high as “close to a trillion dollars.” But the president and Musk offered few specifics on how they were arriving at those estimates.
Trump and Musk addressed a range of criticism about the DOGE effort, from whether its work required authorization from Congress, to if the administration would comply with court orders against the initiative.
Federal courts have already blocked DOGE staff from accessing sensitive Department of Treasury materials, and in a separate ruling on Monday, a federal judge in Rhode Island said the administration was not in full compliance with an order blocking its effort to suspend payments for grants and other federal programs.
When asked about the court challenges against DOGE actions, Trump acknowledged he would comply with the rulings made by federal judges.
“I always abide by the courts. Always abide by them, and we’ll appeal,” he said.
Musk spoke for a majority of the roughly 30-minute appearance, donning a trench coat and a black “Make America Great Again” hat. Standing just feet away from the president, who sat behind the Resolute Desk, Musk was asked to respond to critics who argue he is not working transparently and exercising too much power over the government.
“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what people are going to get,” he said. “They’re going to get what they voted for.”
Musk also said DOGE was “trying to be as transparent as possible” and claimed that all DOGE actions are posted online.
“So all of our actions are maximally transparent,” Musk said.
