February 11, 2025
For the first time since he began his work with the federal government– we are hearing from the world’s richest man. Elon Musk was in the oval office with president trump for about 30 minutes this afternoon answering reporter questions and talking about his Department of Government Efficiency.
But who gets to make that decision? Elon Musk? Well – today President Trump said at this point– basically yeah. Whether that’s legal – we’ll talk about that in a second…but before we get there – I want you to hear something straight from Elon Musk’s mouth. It is very important. He admitted that since he started this DOGE operation — he’s said some things publicly that are absolutely wrong – like the complete misinformation he and the President put out about the condoms in Gaza being supplied by USAID – and also admitted that doge has shut some things down that probably should be open.
Now – everyone makes mistakes. No one is perfect. But in this case — there are also people’s lives behind those mistakes. This is the government we’re talking about here, not a business. People rely on the government for a lot of things. Now — I don’t think there’s anyone out there who doesn’t want the u-s government to be more efficient. Of course – everyone wants that. The questions are coming and the court cases are coming because of how things are happening and the lack of transparency around what is happening. There are also questions about musk himself and whether his billions of dollars in government contracts pose a conflict of interest. He says no.
And he categorically denies doge is hiding anything.
There are lots of people who disagree with that statement. But it is true that you can see the things Musk’s DOGE team is doing through the doge X account. In fact – today Musk talked about all kinds of things DOGE is trying to fix and streamline. For example — the federal employee retirement system. He says it’s antiquated, done by hand, stored in manilla envelops and cardboard boxes in a limestone mine in Pennsylvania. He says that’s ridiculous. He talked about fixing the treasury department payment systems to ensure every payment is categorized properly and goes out to the right person.
But it’s when he and president trump talk in generalities and anecdotes that leads us back down the path of more questions. Anecdotes like this.
On its face – all of those things sound horrible. But think about it for just a second. How many of those cases are there. Who are these people? What are their names? What foreign countries are scamming the entitlement programs. This is the United States government if this stuff is happening, show us the documents. Or are we just supposed to trust Elon Musk – who as you just heard — said sometimes he gets it wrong.
And really how much money is doge going to save the us government? Well – we don’t know that either. And it seems like the president is a little fuzzy on it.
The fact is — there is no government report –yet—that shows one dollar has been saved by DOGE let alone billions of dollars. Congress is asking for it, but has not received anything. If and when that full official government document comes – I will absolutely share it with you. Until then – this is all anecdotal and speculation. I don’t report on that.
But I have been reporting on whether any of this is legal. Legally, the constitution gives congress the power of the purse. And whether you like it or not – congress chose to spend money this way through laws that they passed. Whether the president, through the executive branch or Elon Musk as Trump’s representative can just stop the congressionally approved money from going out because they don’t like it or they think it’s “fraudulent” or it doesn’t align with their policies — is a question the courts are now pondering. Generally, traditionally the answer is no the executive branch can’t stop money from going out that congress approved. But maybe this time the courts will find something different.
As more programs get cut and more lawmakers hear from their constituents more of them are starting to speak up about DOGE. In fact today Republican Senator Rand Paul who is a huge supporter of DOGE said that doge does not have the power to stop the spending that congress approved and they need to get a vote of congress if they want to cut anything. Trump said — ok.
Watch the full even with Elon Musk in the Oval Office here.
