Trump Says Agency Heads Will Work With DOGE After Elon Musk Leaves

The president on Monday provided an update on DOGE and Musk.

Elon Musk (L) speaks next to President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 11, 2025. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

President Donald Trump said adviser Elon Musk will eventually have to depart from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and go back to running his companies.

The president told reporters on Monday in the Oval Office that agency heads will continue to work with DOGE and carry out its mission after Musk leaves.

“I think he’s amazing, but I also think he’s got a big company to run, and so at some point he’s going to be going back,” Trump said. Musk is the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of social media platform X.

“He wants to. I’d keep him as long as I could keep him,” Trump said.

During an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office during a signing ceremony for an executive order that calls for enhanced penalties for people who resell concert tickets, Trump was asked whether DOGE can “keep operating even without Elon here?”

“Well, I can’t tell you that,” Trump responded. “I can say this, that a lot of the people working with DOGE are the secretaries, the heads of the various agencies, and they’ve learned a lot.”

Agency heads are now “dealing with the DOGE people” and have “gotten a big education” from the organization, the president said.

“I think some of them may try and keep the DOGE people with them, but you know, at a certain point, I think it will end,” he added.

Musk is classified as a special government employee, which allows him to skirt certain requirements and disclosure agreements that would be mandated if he were a federal employee. The classification, however, means that he will have to step down from his position after 130 days, which Musk noted during an interview last week.

“I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that timeframe,” Musk told Fox, referring to the 130-day deadline, which falls in late May.

On Sunday, Musk made reference to the drop in Tesla’s stock in recent months and suggested it is tied to his work with DOGE and the Trump administration. Since the start of 2025, the electric vehicle manufacturer’s shares have plunged by more than 29 percent, although the stock over the past 12 months has increased by 52 percent.

“Long term, I think Tesla stock’s going to do fine, so maybe it’s a buying opportunity,” Musk said at an event in Wisconsin. ”This is a very expensive job, is what I’m saying.”

DOGE, which Trump created via an executive order in January, has faced a handful of lawsuits from various groups, including employees and unions, in bids to block the group from accessing systems used by agencies, including the Social Security Administration and others.

In late March, two federal judges separately blocked DOGE’s access to Social Security, the Department of Education, the Department of the Treasury, and the Office of Personnel Management over privacy concerns. Several judges, however, have allowed DOGE to carry out its work in different organizations.