Elon Musk in Trump's government: DOGE, his exit and their feud

DOGE moved fast once Trump took office. It faced a lawsuit over federal transparency laws minutes after the inauguration.^[19] Its team gained read-only access to the Treasury's payment system,^[20] two USAID security officials were put on leave after trying to keep it from classified information,^[21] and Trump gave Musk authority to shut down USAID, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio becoming its acting head.^[22][23] Democrats raised alarms over its access to student loan systems,^[24] 19 states sued over its access to Americans' personal data,^[25] and Minnesota joined 13 other states in a lawsuit calling the agency an illegal power grab.^[26] A Treasury watchdog began an audit of its access,^[27] and legal experts said its work raised unusual legal questions.^[28]

Questions grew over Musk's authority and his businesses. He defended DOGE in the Oval Office while acknowledging mistakes,^[29] Trump said Musk would not be involved in matters touching his companies,^[30] and a White House official said Musk was not DOGE's administrator.^[31] Musk's demand that federal workers list their accomplishments within 48 hours or be treated as having resigned caused confusion,^[32][33] and 21 federal technology staffers resigned rather than help DOGE.^[34] Conflicting messages over who was in charge surrounded Trump's first Cabinet meeting,^[35] and Trump later told Cabinet members that they, not Musk, ran their departments.^[36] Musk pushed for cuts at the Social Security Administration while repeating debunked claims of widespread fraud,^[37] and said he was running his businesses "with great difficulty" as Tesla's shares fell.^[38]

Courts checked parts of the effort. A judge ruled in March 2025 that DOGE's dismantling of USAID was likely unconstitutional, though an appeals court later let it keep operating there,^[39][40] and another judge blocked its access to sensitive Social Security data, a ruling the administration asked the Supreme Court to set aside.^[41][42]

Musk also broke with the administration on trade, calling for zero tariffs between the United States and Europe and calling trade adviser Peter Navarro "a moron."^[43][44][45] As Tesla's profits fell 71%, he said in April that he would cut back his time at DOGE,^[46][47][48] and at the end of May he thanked Trump and left, receiving an Oval Office sendoff.^[49][2][50]

The break came days later. Musk said he was disappointed in Trump's "big, beautiful bill" and called it a "disgusting abomination,"^[51][52] and Trump said he was disappointed in Musk and that Musk had "lost his mind."^[3][52][53] Trump warned of "serious consequences" if Musk funded Democrats,^[54] withdrew the NASA nomination of Musk associate Jared Isaacman,^[55] and Republican enthusiasm for Musk cooled.^[56] Musk backed Trump's handling of the Los Angeles protests days later,^[57] but the fight resumed over the bill at the end of June, with Trump saying DOGE might "go back and eat Elon,"^[58][59] and in July Musk disputed Trump's claims about subsidies for his companies.^[60]

In December 2025, Musk said DOGE had been only "a little bit" successful and that he would not do it again.^[61] The agency shut down in July 2026.^[4] In September, an email showed that a former FBI agent had proposed a criminal investigation of Musk over an Office of Personnel Management email policy,^[62] and in October the Supreme Court agreed to hear the fight over DOGE's records.^[5] Tesla's fortunes during Musk's political turn and his ownership of X are followed in separate arcs.