Elon Musk speaks during the first cabinet meeting hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump, at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., February 26, 2025.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
President Donald Trump told Cabinet members last week that billionaire Elon Musk will leave his administration role in the coming months, NBC News reported Wednesday.
A senior government official told NBC that Musk — whose DOGE team is engaged in a controversial effort to slash federal spending — would leave at the end of a 130-day stint as a special government employee.
That specific designation, SGE, caps a person’s workdays per year at 130 days. Because Musk started on Jan. 20, his SGE cap will be reached at the end of May.
Politico reported earlier Wednesday that the Tesla CEO will soon be leaving the Trump administration. Tesla shares rose after that story was published.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a tweet, called that report “garbage.”
“Elon Musk and President Trump have both publicly stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete,” Leavitt tweeted.
Musk replied to Leavitt’s tweet, writing, “Yeah, fake news.”
Trump on Monday told reporters, “I think he’s been amazing, but I also think he’s got a big company to run … And at some point, he’s going to be going back. He wants to.”
“I’d keep him as long as I could keep him,” the president said.
But in a March 10 interview with Fox Business, host Larry Kudlow asked Musk, “You going to go another year?”
Musk replied, “Yeah, I think so.”
Musk was the biggest financial backer of Trump’s 2024 campaign.
On Tuesday night, Brad Schimel, the conservative candidate bankrolled by Musk and backed by Trump, lost in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
