While he spent tens of millions of dollars boosting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign — working his way to a prominent inner-circle role — Elon Musk was reportedly using drugs “intensely” and regularly, including “chronically” using the powerful anesthetic ketamine to the point where it affected his bladder.
The world’s wealthiest man — who is leaving the White House this week after deploying an army of loyalists across the federal government to fire workers and slash budgets — was allegedly using ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms and Adderall, which he kept in a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, sources told The New York Times.
The sources were not able to say if Musk was allegedly using drugs when he entered the White House as a senior adviser to the president weeks later, while leading the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
But the newspaper’s reporting notes his “erratic behavior” in the days leading up to and after Trump entered office, including gestures on inauguration day that mirrored Nazi salutes, his repeated clashes with top administration officials and cabinet members, and his “increasingly tumultuous” family life, including custody battles and the revelation of his 14th child.
The billionaire experienced frequent “mood swings” and a “fixation on having more children, according to the NYT, citing interviews, private messages obtained by the newspaper, and photographs allegedly showing Musk’s drug stash.
The Independent has requested comment from an attorney for Musk.
During an appearance alongside the president inside the Oval Office on Friday, Musk spoke over a question about the NYT report before the reporter could outline the allegations in it.
“Is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on the Russiagate?” said Musk, referring to the newspaper’s coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump and his allies have pushed the Pulitzer Prize Board to rescind the award.
“That New York Times? Let’s move on,” Musk said.
The White House did not respond to The Independent’s questions about the allegations and whether the president was aware of them, but principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields hailed Musk’s work to “cut waste, fraud and abuse” in the federal government.
“Few CEOs in America would leave the comfort of the C-suite to serve in the federal government,” he said. “In just four months, Elon has accomplished more for American taxpayers than many career politicians — a fact often overlooked by the legacy media.”
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said he doesn’t have any “concerns” about the allegations.
“All I can say is that DOGE has done an extraordinary job rooting out systemic waste, graft, grift and corruption from the federal government, and you’re going to hear from the president today his thanks to Elon Musk for leading that effort to save taxpayers billions of dollars,” he told CNN on Friday.
Musk has previously publicly admitted to using a “small amount” of ketamine, but he has allegedly used the drug daily while mixing it with other drugs, according to the newspaper, citing people familiar with his drug use, which has been “troubling some people close to him.”
He also took ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms “at private gatherings across the United States and in at least one other country,” the NYT reported.
Around the same time he publicly endorsed Trump last July, Musk was using ketamine to the point where it was causing bladder issues, according to the newspaper.
Weeks after Trump’s inauguration, Musk was on stage at February’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) wearing sunglasses and a black “Make America Great Again” hat while wielding a chainsaw. “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” he said.
Asked to describe what is inside the billionaire’s mind, he said at the time: “My mind is a storm. It’s a storm.”
The billionaire spent more than $300m on Trump’s campaign last year, including handing out oversized $1m checks to voters in swing states, before spending millions more to support conservative candidates across the country in 2025.
Ahead of April’s state Supreme Court election in Wisconsin, he wore cheesehead hats at rallies and made legally dubious pledges to “personally” hand voters $1m checks and give out $50 to anyone who takes a picture of themselves outside a voting booth. He frequently described the race in apocalyptic terms, warning that the “destiny of humanity” and future of “the world” were at stake.
But his $20m efforts to support a conservative candidate evaporated. Liberal justice Susan Crawford handily defeated Musk’s choice.
On the campaign trail, Musk predicted “hardship” for Americans under Trump’s economic agenda.
Musk and his DOGE team shredded foreign aid, gutted consumer protections and throttled funding for libraries, public health research and combating homelessness, among other programs, while collecting taxpayer information and other sensitive data.
Musk and Trump have characterized DOGE, operating as the U.S. Doge Service, formerly the U.S. Digital Service, as “tech support” to end “waste, fraud and abuse.”
But DOGE has swept through government agencies without any apparent supervision to reshape, and crush, a bureaucracy Musk despises. The pace and scope of those initial actions have led to intense public scrutiny and a mountain of lawsuits that have thrust the billionaire into more than a dozen legal battles, drawing sharp rebukes from federal judges across the country.
He announced his departure from the White House this week, the end of a 130-day “special government employee” status, which can be renewed next year.
DOGE, meanwhile, remains embedded across the federal government with a mandate from the president to recommend drastic cuts in spending.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the “entire cabinet” remains committed to DOGE.
“That’s why they were working hand in hand with Elon Musk, and they’ll continue to work with the respective DOGE employees who have onboarded as political appointees at all of these agencies,” she said. “So surely, the mission of DOGE will continue.”
