Trump, Musk to part ways soon, president tells inner circle: Politico
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The US president remains satisfied with Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency initiative, but both men have recently agreed that it’s time for Musk to step back from his role.
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Elon Musk shakes hands with President Donald Trump at the finals for the NCAA wrestling championship in Philadelphia on March 22, 2025 (AP)
US President Donald Trump has informed his inner circle, including Cabinet officials, that Elon Musk will stand down from his present roles as governing partner, ubiquitous cheerleader, and Washington hatchet man in the coming weeks, Politico has revealed.
The president remains satisfied with Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency initiative, but both men have recently agreed that it’s time for Musk to step back from his role and return to his businesses, with Musk taking on a more supportive position, according to three Trump insiders who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
This shift comes as frustrations have grown among some Trump administration figures and many external allies, who view Musk’s unpredictability as a growing political liability—something underscored on Tuesday when a conservative judge he supported lost his bid for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat by ten points.
According to one senior administration official, Musk will most certainly continue to serve as an informal advisor and appear on the White House grounds on occasion. Another warned that anybody who believes Musk would depart completely from Trump's circle is "fooling themselves".
Sources say the shift would likely coincide with Musk's departure from his status as a "special government employee," which temporarily exempts him from several ethical and conflict-of-interest guidelines. The 130-day term is likely to end in late May or early June.
Musk's supporters within the administration think that the moment has come for a transition, and many others believe he is an unpredictable, unmanageable force who has struggled to communicate his plans with Cabinet secretaries and through the White House chain of command led by chief of staff Susie Wiles, frequently sending them into a frenzy with unexpected and off-message comments on X, his social-media platform, including sharing unvetted and uncoordinated plans to gut federal agencies.
Musk's political threat was emphasized Tuesday when Democrats seized on his about $20 million expenditure in the Wisconsin campaign, with some openly calling it a referendum on the contentious tycoon.
Trump, on the other hand, had already begun to ease the glide path more than a week before the election, including at a March 24 Cabinet meeting where he informed attendees that Musk would be leaving the administration, according to one of the insiders, who did not attend the meeting but was briefed on the comments. A senior administration official confirmed that Trump mentioned Musk's transition during the discussion.
Immediately after the news, Trump brought reporters and cameras in for the meeting's conclusion, where he praised Musk, who was dressed in a red MAGA hat. Cabinet secretaries, many of whom had battled with Musk only weeks earlier over Musk's rash approach to department cuts, rushed in to praise his bureaucracy-slashing drive.
"Elon, I want to thank you — I know you've been through a lot," Trump added, noting death threats and a wave of damage against Tesla vehicles before calling him "a patriot" and "a friend of mine."
When Fox News' Bret Baier asked Musk on Thursday if he'd be ready to leave when his special government employee status expired, he essentially declared mission accomplished and said, “I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion within that time frame.”
On Monday night, Trump told reporters that he wished to "keep him as along as I could keep him."
Many close to Trump are increasingly relieved that Musk is expected to step down from his central role at Trump's side and that the litany of DOGE surprises — which have ranged from a weekend email blast demanding federal workers list their work output to unintentional cuts to Ebola prevention programs — may finally be coming to an end.
Amid reports of possibly leaving the administration, Tesla shares rose on Wednesday, jumping 3.8% after noon and falling more than 6% on early Wednesday.
