Elon Musk has stepped down from his unpaid role at DOGE

On Wednesday night, Elon Musk said farewell to the Department of Government Efficiency. The two-year-old office will now carry on without its best-known supporter as President Donald Trump moves into the second half of his term.

“As my time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote on X. He said the DOGE mission “will only strengthen as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

Musk has served as the public face of DOGE since Trump signed the executive order creating it on Jan. 20. In those 16 months, the group raced through federal offices, searching contracts and budgets to cut out overspending, corruption, and fraud.

After Musk stepped back, a senior White House official told Fox News that DOGE remains “part of the DNA of this federal government.”

The official said teams work in “nearly every federal agency department,” with one job which is to trim waste, fraud, and abuse. “The DOGE employees at their respective agency or department will be reporting to and executing the agenda of the president through the leadership of each agency or department head,” the official noted.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller praised the effort on X. “The work DOGE has done to eliminate government waste and corruption, the rot embedded deep within Washington, is among the most valuable services ever rendered to government. And the work has only just begun.”

A White House official confirmed to Business Insider that Davis, who is also a leader of Musk’s Boring Company, has left the DOGE team.

Musk and Davis’s departures signal the start of a new phase for the Department of Government Efficiency.

Davis was among the small handful of DOGE officials who joined Musk for a panel interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier in March. Their joint appearance came as the White House sought to improve DOGE’s image amid pushback from congressional Democrats.

Musk served DOGE without an official government pay or title

While Musk drew the headlines, he never joined the federal payroll. A March court filing stated that he did not report to acting administrator Amy Gleason, a former United States Digital Service engineer hailed by colleagues as “world-class talent.”

DOGE is a temporary, cross-department task force slated to dissolve on July 4, 2026. Until then, it will look to build on early returns. The agency’s website, last updated May 26, lists $175 billion in savings from asset sales, contract cancellations, and blocked fraud payments, an average of $1,086.96 for every taxpayer.

Musk’s time at the agency also provoked pushback. Democratic lawmakers and activists have held rallies against him and his companies, some aimed at driving down Tesla’s share price. DOGE, however, moves ahead, its next steps framed by the promise that the work has “only just begun.”

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