White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Elon Musk “has been tasked with overseeing DOGE on behalf of the president,” after an earlier administration court filing said the billionaire isn’t an employee of the operation.
In an interview with Fox News, Leavitt said “DOGE folks have been onboarding at respective agencies across our federal bureaucracy as political appointees.”
“Those individuals are helping the secretaries at all of our agencies that have been nominated and confirmed by President Trump and the United States Senate to cut waste, fraud and abuse,” she added.
Her comments come a day after Joshua Fisher, the director of the Office of Administration, said Musk “is not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization,” in a sworn declaration.
“Mr. Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator,” Fisher added.
The administration official said DOGE is a component of the Executive Office of the President but did not spell out who is its administrator.
Fisher, who claimed to have “personal knowledge” of Musk’s status within the government, said Musk works for the White House Office, which is “separate” from DOGE.
“He holds that position as a non-career Special Government Employee,” Fisher wrote. “In that job, Mr. Musk is a Senior Advisor to the President.”
The Justice Department defines a special government employee as “anyone who works, or is expected to work, for the government for 130 days or less in a 365-day period.”
Fisher said it’s not unusual for special government employees to advise the president, citing the example of Anita Dunn, who served as a senior adviser to former President Joe Biden.
“In his role as a Senior Advisor to the President, Mr. Musk has no greater authority than other senior White House advisors,” Fisher said. “Like other senior White House advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself. Mr. Musk can only advise the President and communicate the President’s directives.”
Trump has long claimed that Musk leads DOGE. Trump has touted the cost-cutting operation, claiming it “has found massive amounts of FRAUD, WASTE, INCOMPETENCE, AND ABUSE” within the government.
The filing came in response to a lawsuit by several Democratic state attorneys general, accusing Trump of illegally delegating executive powers to Musk in violation of the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“Mr. Musk does not occupy an office of the United States and has not had his
nomination for an office confirmed by the Senate. His officer-level actions are thus unconstitutional,” the lawsuit states.
Still, Trump has shown no signs of seeking to restrict Musk or DOGE.
The president last week signed an executive order giving DOGE more power to continue shrinking the size of the government.
Trump and Musk have taped a joint interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, which is set to air on Tuesday evening.