President Donald Trump said on Monday that Elon Musk cannot and will not take any action without his administration's approval. Trump just said in the Oval Office: "Elon cannot and will not do anything without our approval. If it is appropriate, we will give it approval. If it is not appropriate, it will not be approved."
According to a White House official, Musk officially works for Trump as a special government employee. That status means Musk is neither a volunteer nor a full-time federal employee. An overview from the U.S. Department of Justice states that a special government employee is "any person who has worked for the government for 130 days or less within a 365-day period or is expected to work for the government." A person familiar with Musk's work said Musk was not paid.
As the outlet reports, Musk’s colleagues in the Treasury Department’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) now have full access to the government payment system.
When asked by reporters why it was so important for Musk to have access to the government's payment system, Trump said Musk only has the authority to fire people if he and the government deem them "incompetent."
Trump said: "He has the authority to fire people who he thinks are incompetent only if we agree with his judgment. From a management and cost perspective, he is a very talented person. We put him in charge and see what he can do in certain departments and personnel management."
Trump said the goal is to "streamline the size of government," but if Musk has a conflict of interest, "we will not let him get involved."
"They found a lot of waste, really waste, that was bigger than anything else," Trump said. "I think there was probably fraud and abuse, and those combined with the usual waste, fraud and abuse added up to a huge amount. But they did find a lot of very bad things. He did have good instincts. He had a very talented team. We were trying to streamline government, and he could probably do that job as well as anybody."