Elon Musk says he does not ‘wish to take accountability for the whole lot the management’s doing’

President Donald Trump lauded billionaire Elon Musk on Friday because the Tesla CEO wrapped up his time in executive provider after 4 turbulent months main the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way,” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social, including, “Elon is terrific!”

Still, Musk stated Sunday that whilst he has been a robust Trump best friend, he does not at all times toughen the management’s insurance policies.

“I’m a little stuck in a bind,” he stated CBS’s “Sunday Morning,” “where I’m like, well, I don’t want to speak up against the administration but I also don’t want to take responsibility for everything the administration’s doing.”

DOGE reduce tens of hundreds of federal jobs throughout the first few months of Trump’s tenure. Musk has defended his executive file, however said within the CBS interview that “DOGE became the whipping boy for everything. So if there was some cut, real or imagined, everyone would blame DOGE.”

He’s additionally dismayed via the GOP’s multitrillion-dollar tax and spending package deal Congress is lately debating. The law is projected so as to add trillions of bucks to the U.S. debt.

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly,” he stated, including that it “undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.”

Despite Musk’s considerations, Trump officers intend to transport his projects ahead. Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, advised CNN on Sunday the management will paintings with Congress and in a different way use “executive tools” to transport ahead with DOGE’s cuts.

Pressed about individuals of Congress pronouncing that DOGE will have overreached in its efforts to reorganize executive, Vought stated: “I don’t doubt that Congress is going to make accusations. Some of them come by their own watchdogs, but those watchdogs have been historically wrong. And that’s not going to stop us from moving forward to bank the DOGE cuts.”

DOGE, which Musk as soon as predicted would narrow trillions of bucks in executive spending, has come nowhere as regards to that stage, in step with its personal numbers, that have come underneath query.

Musk’s tenure in politics has additionally harm his public symbol and soured shoppers’ perspectives of Tesla, whose automobiles and showrooms turned into a goal for arsonists and vandals.

— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this record.