Elon Musk will remain a “friend and an adviser” to Trump after leaving government, Vance says

Billionaire Elon Musk will continue to be a “friend and an adviser” to President Trump after he formally leaves government, Vice President JD Vance said Thursday on Fox News. 

On Air Force One on Thursday, Mr. Trump told reporters Musk can stay “as long as he’d like.” Asked if he would potentially appoint Musk to another post, Mr. Trump said he would, but added that Musk has a “number of companies to run.” Mr. Trump said there’s a point when “Elon’s gotta have to leave.” Asked when that might be, the president said he thinks a “few months.” 

The White House says Musk isn’t officially in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), although he has been heavily involved and the president and Vance speak of Musk and DOGE in tandem. By law, Musk, designated a special government employee, may only formally work for the government for 130 days, or a little over four months. That time would run out in late May or early June. Vance said Musk was told that the administration needed him to cut government and make it more efficient, a task Musk was told would take about six months. 

“And that’s what Elon signed up for,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News’ Lawrence Jones. “But of course, he’s going to continue to be an adviser. And by the way, the work of DOGE is not even close to done. The work of Elon is not even close to done.” 

Vance touted the work Vance and DOGE have done, including unearthing grants the White House deems wasteful or fraudulent.  

“And yeah, that work’s gonna continue after Elon leaves, but fundamentally, Elon is going to remain a friend and an adviser of both me and the president, and he’s done a lot of good things,” Vance said. “People don’t realize how vast and uncontrolled the bureaucracy was. We’ve started to chip away at it but there’s a lot of work to do. It’s not going to happen all in six months, it’s going to take a long and committed effort.”  

Vance’s comments come after Politico reported that the president has told his inner circle and members of his Cabinet that Musk still be stepping back in the coming weeks form his current role, a story Vance and Musk called “fake news.” 

As a special government employee, Musk’s financial disclosure report is not public, and he is exempt from some ethics and conflict-of-interest rules that apply to permanent government employees. It’s not clear what the White House would do if Musk, whom the White House says it not being paid, remains longer than 130 days.