Trump gives Elon Musk an Oval Office sendoff

WASHINGTON AP President Donald Trump bid farewell to Elon Musk in the Oval Office on Friday providing a cordial conclusion to a tumultuous tenure for the billionaire entrepreneur Musk is leaving his position spearheading the Department of Leadership Efficiency and he ll be rededicating himself to running his businesses including electric automaker Tesla rocket company SpaceX and social media platform X Trump credited Musk with a colossal change in the old techniques of doing business in Washington and commented various of his staff would remain in the administration Musk who wore all black including a T-shirt that noted The Dogefather nodded along as the president listed contracts that had been cut under his watch I think the DOGE crew is doing an incredible job Musk mentioned after accepting a ceremonial key from the president They re going to continue to be doing an incredible job He left a searing mark on the federal bureaucracy including thousands of employees who were fired or pushed out Particular establishment functions were eviscerated such as the U S Agency for International Advance which had provided a lifeline for impoverished people around the world Boston University researchers estimate that hundreds of thousands of people have already died as a aftermath of the USAID cuts Despite the upheaval Musk also fell far short of his goals After promising to cut trillion or even trillion in federal spending he lowered expectations to only billion in the current fiscal year It s unclear whether that target has been hit The DOGE website tallies billion in savings but its information has been riddled with errors and embellishments Trump announced Musk had led the most of sweeping and consequential executive adjustment effort in generations He suggested that Musk is really not leaving and he s going to be back and forth to keep tabs on what s happening in the administration Musk the world s richest person in the last few days mentioned he would reduce his political donation s He was Trump s top donor in last year s presidential campaign Trump appeared eager to end Musk s system on a high note This will be his last day but not really because he will perpetually be with us helping all the way Trump wrote on social media on Thursday evening Elon is terrific As a special administration employee Musk s position was designed to be temporary However he had speculated about staying indefinitely working part time for the administration if Trump still desired his help Musk has brushed off questions about how DOGE would continue without him even suggesting it could gain momentum in the future DOGE is a way of life he advised reporters in recent months Like Buddhism