US President Donald Trump made it clear on Tuesday that billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tasked with overseeing federal spending cuts, directly reports to him and cannot take any action without Trump’s approval.
Trump’s comments came amid growing concerns about Musk’s access to the federal government’s payment systems through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The concerns escalated after Musk announced plans to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a move that sparked strong backlash from lawmakers.
Speaking to the press at the White House, Trump outlined Musk’s limited authority, stating that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO could only dismiss personnel he deemed unnecessary, but only with the president’s consent. “Elon has access only to letting people go that he thinks are no good if we agree with him, and it’s only if we agree with him,” Trump said. “Elon can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval. We’ll give him the approval where appropriate, and where not, we won’t. If we think there’s a conflict, we won’t let him near it.”
Trump defended the decision to hand Musk oversight of government spending, claiming that his team had uncovered massive financial waste. “They are finding a tremendous amount of waste, really more waste than anything else,” he said. “Probably fraud and abuse can be added to that. But they are finding tremendous amounts of really bad things, bad spending.”
The sudden closure of USAID headquarters on Monday, with employees instructed to stay home, followed Musk’s announcement to dismantle the agency, calling its operations “politically partisan.” “We have to get rid of the whole thing,” Musk said. “I actually checked with [Trump] a few times. Said, ‘Are you sure?’ Yes, so we’re shutting it down.”
Trump, a long-time critic of USAID, had previously referred to it as being run by “a bunch of radical lunatics” and had frozen foreign aid on his first day in office, aligning with his “America First” policy.
