Elon Musk‘s tenure within the Trump management started like an incendiary rocket release however concluded Thursday with a reasonably boilerplate parting phrases from the White House.
Karoline Leavitt thanked the SpaceX and Tesla founder on behalf of the White House Thursday hours after he introduced on-line that his tenure as a ‘Special Government Employee’ was once finishing.
‘Of course, as you know, Elon Musk announced last night his departure as an official special government employee from the Trump administration. We thank him for his service. We thank him for getting those off of the ground and the efforts to cut waste, fraud and abuse,’ stated Leavitt, as Musk’s 130-stint got here to a conclusion.
President Trump stated again in April that Musk can be leaving in ‘a couple of months,’ including that ‘I need him to stick so long as conceivable’ however including, ‘There’s going to be some degree the place he’s going to have to depart.’
Musk has been carrying out a chain of interviews timed to his departure, and used considered one of them with CBS to tear the ‘giant, stunning invoice’ that squeaked during the House. It is Trump’s best legislative precedence and comprises a $4.5 trillion extension of the Trump tax cuts – although the White House hit again on Congressional Budget Office value estimates Thursday.
‘I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,’ said Musk.
‘I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both,’ Musk said. ‘My personal opinion.’
The White House thanked Musk for his service on Thursday as his tenure in government ended. Musk said he was ‘disappointed’ in Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill,’ because it ‘increases the budget deficit’
The CBO says the bill would increase deficits for several consecutive years.
‘The President is very proud of the one big, beautiful bill, and he wants to see it passed. He wants the Senate to get to work on it and send it to his desk as quickly as possible,’ Leavitt stated.
Leavitt’s reasonably professional forma reward of Musk comes two months after Trump gushed in regards to the billionaire as his DOGE crew was once collecting a trove of knowledge on companies whilst slashing workforce and figuring out contracts for fast cancelation.
‘What he’s is a patriot,’ Trump stated. ‘Here’s a person that I will let you know, he is a chum of mine, he is turn into a chum of mine … He’s a patriot greater than anything … He’s by no means requested me for a factor, and I believe that is a fantastic tribute.’
Musk has been protecting his tenure and that of his crew of disruptors in public go out interviews. ‘I believe I most certainly did spend a little an excessive amount of time on politics,’ Musk advised Ars Technica this week when requested about priorities and the most recent failed SpaceX release.
‘DOGE is solely changing into the whipping boy for the entirety,’ he advised the Washington Post.
Trump on Wednesday have shyed away from attacking the arena’s richest guy when requested about Musk’s unexpected slam at the funds ‘reconciliation’ invoice now making its method during the Senate.
Musk’s DOGE site says it known $175 billion in cuts, an quantity that falls in need of the $2 trillion Musk stated he was once searching for to slash.
Musk ends his tenure with an ‘beneath water’ approval score, with only a 39 p.c favorable score in comparison to 54 p.c who’ve an ‘adverse’ opinion of him.

‘We thank him for his provider,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated of billionaire Elon Musk, whose tenure as a ‘Special Government Employee’ has ended

Musk’s departure wraps up a memorable tenure the place he turned into a lightning rod

His ‘bromance’ with Trump had Musk making repeated journeys to Mar-a-Lago. Trump even attended a viewing of the release of the 6th check flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on November 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas