USA Trump bids farewell to Musk at joint press conference
US President Donald Trump plans to bid farewell to his advisor Elon Musk at a joint press conference at the White House today.
30.05.2025, 05:53
SDA
Trump announced the appointment in the Oval Office for 7.30 pm German time - and preceded it with a hymn of praise for the tech billionaire, who was commissioned by him to radically cut costs in the government apparatus: "This will be his last day, but not really, because he will always be there and will help us all the way," Trump announced via his mouthpiece Truth Social. "Elon is great!"
Musk had declared on Wednesday that his time as a "special government employee" at the head of the cost-cutting body Doge - limited to 130 days under US rules - would end today "as scheduled". However, his role as an advisor to Trump had already been greatly reduced for weeks. Just over a month ago, Musk announced that he would be "significantly" less active as a cost-cutter in the government apparatus from May onwards and would instead focus more on the interests of Tesla, the electric car manufacturer he runs.
The efforts to cut wasteful government spending and eradicate fraud and abuse will continue, emphasized Trump's spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. The task would be driven forward by the President and the ministers themselves in future - together with the Doge employees, who would remain with the government.
Musks criticizes Trump's tax reform
With his radical approach, Musk became the face of Trump's cost-cutting program and not only made himself unpopular with many government employees. While Doge claims to have saved around 160 billion dollars, critics describe the figure as window-dressing and put the savings effect at a fraction of the sum at best.
In addition to Musk's right-wing political views and his multi-million dollar campaign support for Trump, his activities in Washington were another reason for many car buyers not to buy a Tesla. And there were apparently also occasional friction between him and Trump: Musk, for example, said in an interview on the CBS channel, which is to be broadcast in full on Sunday, that he was "disappointed" with the legislative package pushed through by the President in the House of Representatives with significant tax cuts. It undermines Doge's cost-cutting efforts, he said.
