Musk announces departure

Entrepreneur Elon Musk is stepping down from the Trump administration and ending his position as a "special government adviser". This was announced by a White House official to ABC News.

Musk (53) served for 130 days as the chair of DOGE, with the main goal of making government structures more efficient and cost-effective. Musk held the role of special government adviser on a legally limited term of no more than 130 days—a limit he may reach as early as Friday if he has worked every day since Trump’s inauguration. The South-African-Canadian-American entrepreneur posted a message on X on Wednesday evening in which he thanked President Donald Trump and declared that his team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would continue to operate within the government.

Musk and Trump have been signalling for weeks that the DOGE chief would soon be stepping back from the White House. Last month, Musk promised to significantly reduce his DOGE duties and focus on his companies, amid falling sales figures and share prices at Tesla.

"Now that my planned period as Special Government Employee is coming to an end, I’d like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to cut waste," wrote Musk. He added that the mission of DOGE "will only grow stronger as it becomes a way of working within government."

(SR – Source: ABC News/Politico – Photo: ©picture alliance/dpa | Sebastian Gollnow)