Elon Musk has said that reports of him quitting DOGE – a claim put out yesterday by Politico – are “fake news” as officials say he’s going nowhere until his “incredible” work is finished. The Mail has more.
The White House is furiously pushing back against an explosive report that First Buddy Elon Musk will be leaving the Department of Government Efficiency “in the coming weeks”.
Citing four anonymous “Trump insiders”, the Politico website wrote that President Donald Trump and Musk had “decided” that the 53 year-old billionaire entrepreneur will soon “be stepping back” to take on a “supporting role” and returning to the private sector to lead his businesses.
The article hit official Washington like a ton of bricks – as it suggested that a long-anticipated rift had finally opened between Trump and the eccentric genius who bankrolled the President’s 2024 campaign to the tune of $288 billion [this figure must be an error as it’s unrealistically high: Musk is only worth $345 billion].
The report leaned heavily on sources who said that Musk had become an “unpredictable, unmanageable force” who incites political turmoil and clashes within Trump’s inner circle – including with White House enforcer and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, a.k.a. the ‘Ice Maiden’.
Indeed, there is no doubt that Musk’s unconventional approach to public relations and his machete-style reform of the federal bureaucracy has ruffled feathers in DC.
But sources close to the administration now tell the Daily Mail that the report is “garbage” and “fake news”, adding that Trump and Musk have reached no such decision and there are no plans for the billionaire to leave before his work with DOGE is done.
These sentiments were reflected in a post from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on X: “This ‘scoop’ is garbage. Elon Musk and President Trump have both *publicly* stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special Government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete.”
Musk himself retweeted Leavitt’s message and, with his characteristic off-handedness, said: “Yeah, fake news.”
Even the billionaire’s father, Errol Musk, reached by the Daily Mail in South Africa, leapt into the fray: “Elon will never walk away from DOGE until his commitment is over. Everything they are claiming about Elon leaving DOGE has been made up and is not true.”
But this Politico report – and the vehemence with which the White House and allies have responded – has fanned even more wild speculation in political circles, as many suggested that Musk had been forced out of the administration by rivals. And insiders conceded that there are pockets of discontent in the administration over Musk’s role.
Turns out you can’t believe what you read in Politico.
Worth reading in full.
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