U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
He was officially hired as a "special government employee," which is a role Congress created in 1962 that allows the executive or legislative branch to hire temporary employees for specific short-term initiatives.
Special government employees are permitted to work for the federal government for "no more than 130 days in a 365-day period," according to data from the Office of Government Ethics. Musk's 130-day timeframe, beginning on Inauguration Day, was set to run dry on May 30.
DOGE is a temporary cross-departmental organization that was established to slim down and streamline the federal government. The group itself will be dissolved on July 4, 2026, according to Trump's executive order.
Musk and Trump have both previously previewed that Musk's role was temporary and would come to end in the spring.
"You, technically, are a special government employee and you're supposed to be 130 days," Fox News' Bret Baier asked Musk during an exclusive interview Musk and DOGE team members in April. "Are you going to continue past that or do you think that's what you're going to do?"
"I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that time frame," Musk responded.
Trump hinted at Musk's departure in comments to the media on March 31, when asked if he wants Musk to remain in a government role for longer than the predetermined 130 days.
Elon Musk jumps on state as he joins former president Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
"But starting next month," he added, "I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done."
Amid Musk's work with DOGE, Democrats and activists have staged protests against the tech billionaire and his companies, including working to tank Tesla stocks.
Musk has been the public face of DOGE for months, but is not an employee of the United States DOGE Service and does not report to the acting DOGE chief, according to court filing in March that shed additional light on the internal workings of the office.
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"Elon Musk does not work at USDS. I do not report to him, and he does not report to me. To my knowledge, he is a Senior Advisor to the White House," Amy Gleason, the acting administrator of DOGE, wrote in a declaration included in a court filing.
President Trump survived an assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania in July. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
"I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery," Musk posted to X shortly after the attempt, accompanied by footage of Trump raising a fist and shouting "Fight, fight, fight!" after he was left bloodied by the assassination attempt.
Musk hosted Trump on X for an expansive interview while on the campaign trail
Across Musk's tenure as a special government employee, Trump has praised the tech billionaire for his efforts to streamline the government and cut it of overspending, including during his first address to a joint session of Congress since his second inauguration.
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"Thank you, Elon. He’s working very hard. He didn’t need this. He didn’t need this. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Everybody here, even this side, appreciates it, I believe. They just don’t want to admit that," Trump said in March during his address, quipping that Democrats were even grateful for Musk's work at DOGE.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/elon-musk-officially-steps-down-from-doge-after-wrapping-his-work-streamlining-federal-government