Fox News’ Sandra Smith asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to clear up the confusion over Elon Musk’s role in the federal government on Tuesday, observing that President Donald Trump has “introduced him as the head of DOGE multiple times,” but a recent legal filing reveals that he holds no such title.
In an affidavit filed on Monday, Joshua Fisher, the director of the White House Office of Administration stated that Musk is “not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or the U.S. DOGE Service temporary organization.”
“Mr. Musk is an employee of the White House office,” explained Fisher. “He holds that position as a non-career Special Government Employee (“SGE”). In that job, Mr. Musk is a Senior Advisor to the President.”
Smith asked Leavitt about the discrepancy between Trump’s words, the White House’s actions, and Fisher’s affidavit on Tuesday.
“Karoline, can I ask you for a clarification? Sandra here, by the way, and thanks for coming back on with us,” began the anchor. “It seems there’s been a lot made of what Elon Musk’s role is actually at DOGE. The President has introduced him as the head of DOGE multiple times in interviews. Yet there’s this affidavit that we’ve been able to get our hands on here, that the press has as well, that it contradicts the White House claim that he’s the head of DOGE.”
“This affidavit actually says he doesn’t work for DOGE at all. Reading directly from it, it says Musk is ‘not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or the U.S. DOGE Service temporary organization.’ That’s according the director of the White House’s Office of Administration. So what is his role at DOGE?” she asked.
“Sure. I’m happy to clarify. Elon Musk is a special government employee here at the White House, serving at the direction of the president of the United States, Donald Trump,” replied Leavitt. “Elon Musk has been tasked with overseeing DOGE on behalf of the president and DOGE employees. DOGE folks have been onboarding at respective agencies across our federal bureaucracy as political appointees, just like any other political appointee gets on board with the new administration with the changing of hands.”
“And those individuals are helping the secretaries at all of our agencies that have been nominated and confirmed by President Trump in the United States Senate, to cut waste, fraud and abuse at these respective agencies,” she concluded. “So that’s the way DOGE has been set up and that’s the way it will continue to operate.”
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