Elon Musk loyalists at the Department of Government Efficiency are “fighting” to preserve their work amid tensions with the White House following the billionaire’s fallout with President Donald Trump, according to a report.
Even though the tech mogul has left government, igniting a feud with the president on his way out, his influence over the cost-cutting department continues as the Trump administration looks to move on from DOGE’s “aggressive” and “reckless” tactics that were seen early in the administration, according to The Wall Street Journal.
A “tug of war” is ensuing over DOGE’s direction, the Journal reports.
DOGE’s work is reportedly being scrutinized more closely by White House officials and drastic cuts are being reversed in some instances. The Department of Veterans Affairs has this week backed down from its plans to cut 83,000 jobs, spearheaded by DOGE, after public outcry. DOGE aggressively slashed the federal workforce and cut government programs in an effort to trim the federal budget. But the group’s tactics were met with lawsuits and legal challenges. Musk left the federal government and then began an online fight with Trump over his proposed spending bill that is set to add trillions to the national debt.
Now, some DOGE staffers have been quizzed on their loyalty to Trump or Musk and are being “pitted” against some in the White House, according to former and current officials close to the department.
Heads of federal agencies have been given more control over the DOGE staffers working in their departments. Some officials have shared “concern” about trusting the Musk loyalist DOGE workers, the newspaper reported.
Musk still holds sway over the department through Steve Davis, his former DOGE lieutenant, who is communicating with staffers multiple times a week even though he also left government in May, according to the outlet.
Musk once compared Davis to chemotherapy. “A little chemo can save your life; a lot of chemo could kill you,” the Tesla CEO said of his former right-hand man.
Davis continues to give direction to DOGE officials, according to insiders. “Steve is out of government, but he’s not out of DOGE,” top DOGE official Anthony Armstrong told staffers in June, according to meeting notes obtained by the Journal.
An official close to Davis and Musk denied he was giving “directions” to staffers and the conversations were described as “informal,” the official told the Journal.
When Musk launched his first attack on Trump in June, some DOGE staffers believed they could lose their jobs.
A week after Davis left government on June 5, he reportedly texted a DOGE associate about the fight that was escalating between Musk and Trump and told them to stay focused. “This is obviously beyond crazy,” Davis said in the messages seen by the outlet. “But mission and actions remain the same until we are forced out.”
The White House said that DOGE’s mission is moving forward because of Trump.
“Many Presidents have promised, but none other than President Trump has delivered to actually make government more efficient and root out waste, fraud, and abuse in Washington, and that mission is moving full steam ahead,” said White House spokesman Harrison Fields.
Once inseparable, the fight between Trump and Musk reached new heights at the weekend when the billionaire announced he was launching a new political party. It stemmed from Musk’s fierce opposition to Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill.”
“What the heck was the point of @DOGE if he’s just going to increase the debt by $5 trillion??” Musk railed on X after the bill passed.
Trump retaliated by saying he was “saddened” to see Musk “go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks.”
