Amy Gleason, the acting administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was nowhere to be seen during Fox News‘ Bret Baier’s wide-ranging interview with Elon Musk and top DOGE officials.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump established the DOGE team after he was inaugurated in January and tasked Musk, the billionaire SpaceX CEO, with overseeing its broad cost-cutting apparatus.
But DOGE and Musk sparked widespread backlash over their wrecking-ball approach to shrinking the government bureaucracy and dismantling a number of federal agencies.
Musk and DOGE have been hit with a slew of lawsuits alleging that their activities violate the Constitution because Musk is not a Senate-confirmed official and DOGE is not a congressionally authorized agency.
Amid the uproar, a White House official said in a court filing that Musk “has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself” and “is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.”
In late February, the White House said Gleason is the acting DOGE administrator. But her absence during Thursday’s interview quickly fueled speculation about if she’s the head of DOGE in name only and who is really in charge of the task force.
What To Know
During the hour-long interview on Baier’s show Special Report, Musk was seen with six other men from the DOGE team. Gleason was not part of the group.
Gleason, according to her LinkedIn profile when she was announced acting DOGE administrator, was a senior adviser at the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) since January. After Trump took office for his second term, he turned the USDS into DOGE.
The Trump administration revealed in court documents this month that Gleason was also formally hired by the Department of Health and Human Services as a “consultant/expert” on March 4, just days after the White House announced she was acting DOGE administrator.
Questions about Gleason’s absence and her role within DOGE quickly started circulating during Thursday’s Fox News interview with Baier.
What People Are Saying
MSNBC host Symone D. Sanders-Townsend wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Let’s set aside what Mr. Musk is saying for a moment since the government’s work has already been affected by Musk’s actions. Is Amy Gleason in this interview? I thought she was the administrator of DOGE?”
Teddy Schleifer, a reporter at The New York Times, wrote on X: “Amy Gleason, the person that the White House has said is leading DOGE, is not in this eight-person Elon Musk ‘Meet DOGE’ group interview.”
Asked whether he was surprised at judicial rulings against DOGE, Musk told Baier: “The D.C. Circuit is notorious for having a very far-left bias. And when you look at the people close to some of these judges, where are they working? Oh, they’re working at these [non-governmental organizations]. Oh, they’re getting—they’re the ones getting this money. Does that seem like a system that lacks corruption? Sounds like corruption to me.”
What Happens Next
Musk pledged to continue DOGE’s work on Thursday, telling Baier he sees it as a “revolution.”
“But at the end of the day, America’s going to be in much better shape,” the Tesla CEO said. “America will be solvent. The critical programs that people depend upon will work and it’s going to be a fantastic future.”
He acknowledged, however, that “we’re going to get a lot of complaints along the way.”
Update 3/27/25 8:12 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and context.
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