Elon Musk said Department of Government Efficiency staffers have no plans to take their “eye off the ball” when it comes to slashing government waste and spending as the richest man alive prepares to transition out of his role in the Trump administration.
The billionaire tech entrepreneur told Fox Host Jesse Watters that DOGE will remain a “long-term enterprise” even after his status as a special government employee ends on May 30.
“It’s a long-term enterprise because if we take our eye off the ball, the waste and fraud will come roaring back,” Musk, 53, said in a clip of his forthcoming sit-down interview Thursday on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“We’re trying to have it be such that the funding is removed, the grants are gone. There’s a lot of work required to restart the waste and fraud.”
The Tesla CEO has boasted $160 billion cuts in annual spending after settling a $1 trillion goal — though the precise amount of money that DOGE has cut is unclear.
President Trump tapped the tech mogul to lead the temporary organization to discover and eliminate wasteful government spending, fraud and abuse.
Musk, who also owns X, quickly tore through Washington during Trump’s initial months back in the White House — leading efforts to gut the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and its 10,000 employees.
He also backed the Office of Management and Budget on a similar mission to shutter the 1,700-person Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while analyzing the federal bureaucracy from the Education Department to the Pentagon.
Opponents, however, have expressed concern that the South African-born businessman wasn’t elected by the American public, yet significantly altered the executive branch and fired thousands of government workers without congressional approval.
Harsh critics have targeted Tesla cars and charging stations in recent months, with the Justice Department charging suspected vandals and arsonists as domestic terrorists.
Musk has served as an unpaid temporary government employee since DOGE formed – and is expected to remain an informal adviser to the group when his tenure comes to an end.
