Billionaire Trump Ally has rejected criticism of transparency, saying that the work of his department is “common sense”.
President Donald Trump’s advisor Elon Musk made a rare public appearance at the White House on Tuesday to defend the fast and in -depth cuts which he pushes through the federal government, in the concern that he gave power with little transparency or responsibility.
The Musk billionaire stood next to Trump in the oval office of the White House with his four -year -old son, while the American president praised his work in the new ministry of government efficiency (DOGE).
Trump has signed a decree expanding Musk’s powers to continue to reduce the federal workforce, by which a DOGE representative will have to approve almost all new hires.
Wearing a cap “Make America Great Again”, Musk defended Doge’s work as “common sense” and “not draconian or radical”. He described the federal bureaucracy as a fourth branch of the “unclear” government with “more power than any elected representative”.
“People have voted for a major government reform, and that’s what people will get,” he told journalists. “This is what democracy is used for.”
The concerns that the White House has moved to limit independent surveillance developed after the Inspector General of the American Agency for International Development (USAID) was dismissed on Tuesday, one day after warning that it had become Almost impossible to monitor $ 8.2 billion in humanitarian funds after Doge began to dismantle the agency.
Musk said that Doge’s work was shared on his website and on X, the social media platform he has, despite the website containing no information and articles X lacking details, including programs which are cut and where the organization has access.
In response to a question about false statements that the United States spent $ 50 million in condoms for Gaza, he admitted that some of the statements he had made about government programs were wrong.
“Some of the things I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. No one can beat 1,000, “he said.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, rejected criticism of transparency, saying that he expected to be fully responsible. “I fully expect to be examined and to pass, you know, a daily proctology exam, essentially,” said Musk. “It’s not like I thought I can get away with something.”
Its companies have contracts with the Pentagon and Intelligence Community worth billions of dollars, and criticisms say that Doge’s work will give Musk access to sensitive payment systems to the US Treasury.
The push towards mass dismissals comes after the Trump administration tried to cajolate federal workers to accept the buyout offers, an effort which was blocked by a federal judge.
Trump and Musk were unleashed on Tuesday to the federal judges, questioning the independence of the judiciary and threatening measures. Musk said on X that the country was destroyed by a “judicial coup”, while Trump blamed “highly political judges” for slowing down his program.
“We want to eliminate corruption. And it seems difficult to believe that a judge could say, we don’t want you to do this, “said Trump. “So maybe we have to look at the judges.”
