Tech billionaire Elon Musk has responded to reports that President Donald Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles has limited his access to the president.
Following a Friday report in The Times, Political analyst Dominic Michael Tripi wrote on X, "Susie Wiles has reportedly limited Elon Musk's direct access to the President." On Monday, Musk, who owns the X platform, replied with two laughing emojis.
Newsweek has contacted the White House via email and Musk via an email to Tesla for comment.
Why It Matters
Musk, the richest man in the world, was one of the central figures in Trump's successful campaign for the White House and was a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago during the presidential transition.
In the Trump administration, he will head the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which aims to reduce trillions in annual federal spending in order to address the $36.2 trillion national debt. The extent of Musk's and DOGE's influence within the administration is still to be determined.
BREAKING: President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has reportedly limited Elon Musk's direct access to the President.
— Dominic Michael Tripi (@DMichaelTripi) January 25, 2025What to Know
The report from The Times suggests that Wiles, a veteran political operative known as the "ice maiden," could be aiming to keep Musk at arms length from the president.
Last Tuesday, Trump signed the executive order which renamed the U.S. Digital Service as the U.S. DOGE Service, and established DOGE as a temporary agency within the Executive Office of the President set to expire on July 4, 2026.
Rather than addressing government spending as a whole, it will be tasked with "modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity."
It specifies that DOGE will be led by an administrator who reports to the president's chief of staff. While Musk is not named in the order, if he is the administrator, it would mean that he is reporting to Wiles.
While he was signing the order, a reporter asked Trump if Musk was getting a West Wing office. Trump replied, "No. He's getting an office for about 20 people that we're hiring to make sure that these [savings] get implemented."
The New York Times reported earlier in January that DOGE office may be in the Eisenhower Executive Building, which is adjacent to the White House.
The Times article described the decision to keep Musk out of the West Wing as a "victory" for Wiles, which caused "relief among long-term Trump backers on the West Wing staff who resent Musk's rapid ascent after declaring his support only last summer."
DOGE was initially set to be led by Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, but Ramaswamy left the agency earlier in January, and is reportedly considering a run for governor of Ohio.
A recent poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that most Americans are skeptical that Musk will deliver on the agency's ambitious targets.
What People Are Saying
Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, to ABC News: "So much is still unknown. They have now put out this order [establishing DOGE]. But what they haven't really done is to clarify how this is going to work."
Anthony Scaramucci, a financier and frequent Trump critic who briefly served as Trump's communications director in 2017, to Politico: "Elon Musk will last a year. A lot of these guys will get blown out. He's worth $250, 400 billion, and Trump is a little afraid of him, so, yes, he'll last longer than other people. But he's already out to pasture. He's in the Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE], which doesn't exist."
What Happens Next
As DOGE begins its operations under the Trump administration, the full scope of Musk's influence remains to be seen.
The integration of DOGE into the U.S. government is already facing legal scrutiny. A lawsuit filed shortly after Trump's inauguration alleges that the commission violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a 1972 law requiring advisory committees to disclose staffing and activities.
Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward, which is representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, emphasized concerns about DOGE's opaque operations. "The way it has been operating was under a shroud of secrecy, with a number of concerns," she said.
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