Washington – Standing to President Trump in the Oval office on Tuesday, Elon Musk defended the Government Efficiency Department Efforts to drastically reduce spending and fire workers throughout the federal government, insisting that Americans voted for important changes and the Trump administration is delivering.
Musk, the richest man in the world, took questions for the first time since the president gave him a wide authority to review the executive branch.
“People voted for an important government reform and that is what people are going to get,” Musk said, with his little son by his side. “They will get what they voted.”
Underlining his support for Musk’s work, Trump signed an executive order that required that the heads of the Federal Agency coordinate with Dux that he reduces the size of the federal government. The order, according to an informative sheet of the White House, orders the heads of agencies to “coordinate and consult with Doge to reduce the size of the federal workforce and limit hiring to essential positions.”
Alex Brandon/AP
Musk said it is “essential” that the Federal Government reduces spending, with interest on debt that represents a growing part of the budget. The Trump and Doge administration in particular are to the agency by agency, seeking to cut forces and work programs.
The rapid reduction and freezing of government programs, which the Democrats call illegal, has encountered a generalized legal opposition in the courts, with dozens of demands that challenge the constitutionality of Musk and his team dismantling agencies and programs established by Congress. The judges have blocked the actions of the administration in a variety of fronts, even for except The Musk team to obtain confidential data from the Department of Treasury and Pausing a deadline for “deferred resignations” offered to federal workers.
Musk told journalists that federal workers must give account, calling the bureaucracy a fourth “not chosen” branch of the government. Musk’s own financial dissemination report itself remain confidential.
When asked about the personal conflicts he has and if he is watching himself, Musk did not respond directly, but said that Doge’s website is explaining what he is doing, an apparent reference to the Group account in Xwhich details the contracts that federal agencies have canceled. He pressed for the second time, Musk said the public can question whether benefiting from Doge’s actions.
“You can see if I am doing something that is benefiting one of my companies or not,” Musk said. “It’s totally obvious.”
Musk, whose business network has billions of dollars in contracts with the federal government, said he does not believe he can get his own.
“I’ll be scrutinized without stopping,” he said.
The president said that if he thought that Musk had a conflict of interest with a project, he would not let Musk continue.
Mr. Trump was asked if he plans to comply with the decisions of the courts that limit the actions of his administration. Vice President JD Vance and other Trump allies have said that the court had no role in restricting the legitimate authority of the executive branch, which increases fears among the Democrats that Trump could challenge a court order and cause a constitutional crisis.
“Well, always meet the courts, and then I have to appeal it,” said the president, while questioning why a judge would like to block his agenda.
Musk acknowledged that there could be errors and acknowledged that “some of the things I say will be incorrect”, referring to a false demand That the United States planned to send dozens of millions of dollars in condoms to Gaza.
“We are moving fast, so we will make mistakes, but we will fix the mistakes very quickly,” Musk said.
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