Elon Musk is serving in the Trump administration as a "special government employee," according to a White House official.
It’s a designation that means Musk, the tech tycoon and fierce Trump ally whom President Donald Trump has launched on a cost-cutting mission across the federal government, is working neither as a volunteer nor a full-time employee. Special government employees are asked to abide by conflict of interest requirements and ethics policies that are typically less onerous than federal employees. As a temporary position, it bypasses some of the disclosure obligations required of full-time roles.
A person familiar with the role said that these types of employees can work up to 130 days in a calendar year and that the days can be split up (i.e. Musk can work half a day and that will only count as half a day).
Trump had tapped Musk to lead the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE,) which is an outside advisory commission and not an official government agency tasked with finding ways to reduce government spending.
According to a report by the Congressional Research Service, special government employees are limited in how many days they can work each year, amounting to “more than 130 days during any period of 365 days.”
Trump said Monday that Musk's DOGE would not act without the White House's approval and that Musk won’t always get his way.
“Elon can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval, and we’ll give him the approval where appropriate, where not appropriate, we won’t," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "He reports in ... But he does have a good natural instinct."
Musk has been quick to tout what he said is the political upside of cutting government spending, writing on X, his social media platform, on Monday, that “Nothing polls higher than cutting government spending.”
Musk's SpaceX has won billions in government contracts with the federal government, which critics have said is a potential conflict of interest.
The U.S. Agency for International Development was created in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy.
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