Vice President Vance said Thursday that billionaire Elon Musk will remain a “friend and an adviser” to the White House after Musk departs from his role as a special government employee next month.
Musk is leading the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to shrink the size and scope of the federal government, but his special government employee status will expire at the end of May. Vance made clear that Musk would not exit President Trump’s orbit once he leaves his official government role, however.
“Of course he is going to continue being an adviser. And by the way, the work of DOGE is not even close to done. The work of Elon is not even close to done,” Vance told “Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones in an interview.
“DOGE has got a lot of work to do. And yeah, that work is going to continue after Elon leaves,” Vance continued. “But fundamentally, Elon is going to remain a friend and an adviser of both me and the president. And he’s done a lot of good things. People don’t realize how vast and uncontrolled the bureaucracy was. We’ve started to chip away at it, but there’s a lot of work to do. It’s not going to happen all in six months, it’s going to take a long and committed effort.”
White House officials have dismissed a Politico report stating Trump has told close advisers that Musk’s time in the government will be winding down. Trump earlier in the week said as much, acknowledging Musk would eventually leave to run his companies.
Musk has been a close adviser to Trump dating back to his election victory last November. He is a regular presence at the White House, and the Tesla CEO flies with Trump on Air Force One.
Trump has publicly praised Musk as a “patriot” and has tried to boost Tesla, including by purchasing one of the company’s cars at the White House. But some Trump administration officials, including Cabinet members, have been frustrated by Musk’s outsized influence.
Musk has come under intense scrutiny from Democrats and critics who view him as an unelected official with significant conflicts of interest through his businesses who is making sweeping cuts to the government.
