By The American Tribune | Created at 2025-04-05 10:20:53 | Updated at 2025-04-05 23:23:49
13 hours ago
President Trump demolished the media’s rumors about Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), hinting at a “horrible” form of government waste that Musk and the DOGE team discovered. Mr. Trump also expressed hopes that Mr. Musk will stay in charge of DOGE for “as long as possible.”
As background, speculation has run rampant that Mr. Musk will be stepping down from his role as head of DOGE in the coming months, leading to questions about the future of the department’s work. As a result, the press has been asking questions about Musk’s future to President Trump.
In an interview with Fox News that aired on April 4, 2025, Mr. Trump praised Elon Musk to the press, describing him as “fantastic” and “a patriot.” Trump acknowledged that he only got to know Musk following the Tesla founder’s endorsement of his second run for president. “I knew him a little bit before that, but not much, but then he endorsed me, and it was a strong, bracing endorsement.”
These statements are par for the course for Mr. Trump, who has had a close working relationship with Musk since appointing him as head of DOGE in January of this year. Since then, Musk has shown enthusiastic support for Mr. Trump’s policies and backed him fully, even showing up at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) with a chainsaw, symbolizing his commitment to cutting out wasteful government spending.
In the April 4 interview, Mr. Trump kept the details of Musk’s tenure in the cabinet vague. “I would say Elon will want to stay for a certain period of time,” Trump said, “But then he’ll want to get back to his businesses full-time.” However, Mr. Trump did not specify an exact date for Mr. Musk’s departure from his government role.
In response to further questions from the press, President Trump went on to praise Musk for uncovering “billions of dollars of fraud and abuse and waste.” He continued, “They are still going. They are going strong. They found something today that is horrible. It is horrible.” When pressed for more information, Trump said, “You’ll find out very soon.”
While President Trump wasn’t willing to disclose more information about what this recent finding was, he hinted that more details may be made public soon. The press went on to ask Mr. Trump if he would consider appointing Mr. Musk to another position. The President responded, “I think Elon’s great, but he also has a company to run —or a number of companies to run. He can do this — he finds the time — he loves the country, that’s why he does it.”
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Following this exchange, Trump elaborated that he “wanted Elon to stay as long as possible,” specifying, “Number one, I like him; number two, he’s doing a great job; and number three, he is a patriot. That’s why he’s doing this, and it’s very costly for him. I want him to stay as long as possible, but there will be a point when he’s going to have to leave.”
Nearing the end of the interview, Trump went on to clarify that DOGE will live on and continue its mission after Mr. Musk has stepped down in the future. “DOGE will stay active. We have a lot of smart people. A lot of those people, I believe, are going to go into the agencies, and they’ll work on it from the inside.”
Watch this exchange between Mr. Trump and the press:
