Elon Musk has left the White House — physically, that is.
The Tesla boss and the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is no longer working from the Oval Office, where he spent much of the Trump administration’s first 100 days indiscriminately laying off federal workers and cutting programs without producing his much-promised savings.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles revealed to the New York Post that Musk is still working for DOGE — but remotely.
“Instead of meeting with him in person, I’m talking to him on the phone, but it’s the same net effect,” Wiles said. This comes, of course, as the Trump administration is pushing to get federal workers back to the office full-time.
Wiles said that “it really doesn’t matter much” that Musk “hasn’t been here physically.” Where exactly Musk is working from isn’t clear.
Wiles emphasized that Musk’s DOGE “folks aren’t going anywhere,” even if he himself is winding down his time as an unpaid special government employee because his contract is up in May.
“He’s not out of it altogether. He’s just not physically present as much as he was,” Wiles said. “The people that are doing this work are here doing good things and paying attention to the details. He’ll be stepping back a little, but he’s certainly not abandoning it. And his people are definitely not.”
Musk’s presence in the White House has been a defining part of Trump’s first 100 days in office. The CEO said recently that he will soon start refocusing on Tesla, which reported last week in its first quarter earnings that net income sank 71%. The EV-maker’s earnings were a double miss in both adjusted earnings-per-share and revenue. Total auto revenue fell 20% year-over-year during the period.
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