Musk doesn’t run DOGE, White House says

Elon Musk doesn’t have independent powers to fire anyone from federal agencies, the Justice Department has told a federal judge, shooting down some of critics’ more fantastical theories about the head of President Trump’s effort to remake the bureaucracy.

Indeed, Mr. Musk isn’t even technically part of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, the department said. He is an employee of the White House, but not the DOGE or the DOGE Temporary Service Organization.

“Mr. Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service administrator,” Joshua Fisher, director of the Office of Administration, told the judge in a sworn declaration.

Mr. Musk “has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” Mr. Fisher said.

That specifically means he lacks the ability to make personnel decisions at departments and agencies.

Even though Mr. Trump has cited Mr. Musk as head of the DOGE, he does not hold any position with the office, Mr. Fisher said.

Instead, Mr. Musk is a senior adviser to Mr. Trump and a non-career special government employee.

Mr. Fisher said that’s similar to the role Anita Dunn played for President Biden.

“In his role as a senior adviser to the president, Mr. Musk has no greater authority than other senior White House advisers,” Mr. Fisher said.

After the filing was made, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News that while Mr. Musk is considered a special government employee, he is still “overseeing DOGE on behalf of the president.”

Monday’s court filing came as part of a case challenging what the plaintiffs — a coalition of Democrat-led states — called Mr. Musk’s “seemingly limitless and unchecked power.”

“Although our constitutional system was designed to prevent the abuses of an 18th century monarch, the instruments of unchecked power are no less dangerous in the hands of a 21st century tech baron,” the states challenged. “In recent weeks, defendant Elon Musk, with President Donald J. Trump’s approval, has roamed through the federal government unraveling agencies, accessing sensitive data, and causing mass chaos and confusion for state and local governments, federal employees, and the American people.”

The states characterized Mr. Trump as “oblivious” to Mr. Musk’s “threat” to the nation.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is hearing the case.

She is the judge who oversaw the special counsel’s attempt to prosecute Mr. Trump for actions surrounding the 2020 election and its aftermath. That case was scuttled when Mr. Trump won the election.

Mr. Trump created the DOGE on Jan. 20 through executive order. He transformed an Obama-era office, the U.S. Digital Service, as the U.S. DOGE Service.

The executive order refers to an administrator and directs each federal agency chief to establish a “DOGE team” to coordinate with the White House office.