“What’s wrong with these people? I’ve not harmed anyone. So, something needs to be done about them. A number of them are going to prison, and they deserve it.”
Asked whether he took the attacks personally, he said: “Yes.”
Musk also defended DOGE’s work, but said it would be up to Congress whether the promised savings from his razor gang ever materialised.
According to the DOGE website, it has identified savings of an estimated $US170 billion. But only $US71 billion is attributed to actual line items on the agency’s “wall of receipts”, which categorises the savings as contracts, grants or leases.
Musk said it was “absurd” to suggest the agency had underperformed. “Have we not made good progress given the amount of time?” he asked.
Elon Musk joined President Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East last week, and attended a state dinner at Qatar’s Lusail Palace.Credit: Getty Images
“The magnitude of the savings is proportionate to the support that we get from Congress and the executive branch of the government. We’re not the dictators, we are the advisers.”
As a special government employee, Musk’s employment is limited to 130 days, a period that would end in late May, although he could be assigned another role.
However, Trump has already said he expected Musk to return to running his companies, and would remain an adviser in a less formal and more distant capacity.
Many predicted a dramatic and public fallout between the two men, but that did not come to fruition. Instead, Musk has faded from prominence.
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An analysis by Politico this week found Trump has ceased talking about Musk on his TruthSocial platform. The president’s weekly mentions of Musk peaked at 11 in February, but stopped entirely by April. Mentions of Musk in Trump’s fundraising appeals also ended, Politico reported.
However, Musk is still a presence in the president’s orbit; he attended Trump’s four-day trip to the Middle East last week – as did many senior business leaders in technology – and recent cabinet meetings.
He told the Qatari Economic Forum he would travel to Washington on Wednesday and have dinner with Trump – before returning to Silicon Valley.
Musk said he was spending about one to two days a week on government work.
