What Role Does Elon Musk Play

What Role Does Elon Musk Play?

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In an interview with Sean Hannity, Elon Musk and President Trump discussed Musk’s ambiguous role in the government, initially framed as “tech support.” Despite claims of Musk’s influence, his specific responsibilities remain unclear. The White House refers to him as a “special government employee,” lacking Senate confirmation, leading to confusion about his authority. Musk’s focus on cost-cutting contradicts his initial project to modernize government technology. As privacy concerns rise over Musk’s access to sensitive data, partisan divisions emerge, with Republicans showing apathy towards data privacy. Amidst this, Musk also promotes his AI venture, Grok, maintaining his business interests.

During his interview with President Trump and Elon Musk yesterday, Fox News’s Sean Hannity softly probed an essential question: What exactly is Musk’s role?

“He’s your tech support?” Hannity inquired, referencing the T-shirt Musk had revealed from under his blazer moments before.

Musk confirmed that he was.

“He’s much more than that,” Trump contended.

This exchange did little to clarify the matter. Musk’s specific duties and position remain so obscure, wrapped in secrecy, that even he and the president seem unclear on the terminology or how to address it.

Trump has previously mentioned Musk’s responsibility to “lead” the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, yet a recent court document stated he is not actually overseeing that initiative — without clarifying who is. The White House has labeled Musk a “special government employee,” while press secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted that the department simply advises agencies, lacking the authority to terminate personnel.

“He’s more influential than a cabinet secretary, yet he isn’t Senate-confirmed,” remarked Jessica Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a former Republican Senate aide, who also noted Musk provides scant public insights into his daily operations.

The White House has not specifically detailed how many individuals are on Musk’s team or what their tasks entail. Despite Musk’s pledges of transparency, public awareness of his team’s efforts is primarily gleaned from news reports and, as my colleague Zach Montague highlighted today, legal documents. Even judges are struggling to determine fundamental aspects of the group’s involvement in agencies and the information its members are gathering.

This ambiguity serves Musk in two ways. Minimizing his job — as he did in the Hannity interview — may help insulate him from criticism, as Zach noted. However, it could also permit his role and that of his team to adapt as he and the president choose.

The executive order that established the Department of Government Efficiency stated its aim was to modernize technology and software. Nevertheless, Musk has largely focused, at least publicly, on reducing expenses. Last night, he suggested that enforcing Trump’s executive orders might be his real job.

“It seems like they’re making up the rules as they go,” stated William Hoagland, a senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center who spent 25 years handling budget-related issues for Senate Republicans.

MORE ON THE INTERVIEW

They did not elucidate the specifics of Musk’s position, nor much else of substance.

Yet during their joint appearance last night, Musk and Trump did express their mutual admiration, as Shawn McCreesh reports.

“I love the president,” Mr. Musk stated right off the bat. “I just want to make that clear.” The president, for his part, referred to Mr. Musk as “a great person,” “an incredible person,” “a caring individual,” and “a brilliant guy.”

It was a blatant exhibition of camaraderie by two men aware that many — including Democrats and federal employees — would relish seeing their bond fray. Regardless of how situational their connection might be, both endeavored to portray a familial relationship.

“I feel like I’m interviewing two brothers here,” Hannity commented.

THE DATA

The U.S. government amasses a vast amount of personal information about every resident in the country. This is the kind of data that hackers and fraudsters continuously try to access — the data you are consistently advised to safeguard.

This data has rapidly become central to the legal, administrative, and political conflicts surrounding Musk’s actions.

Musk’s team of software engineers has persistently requested access to this data, my colleagues Andrew Duehren and Cecilia Kang noted today, deeming it vital for the group’s fraud investigations.

Experts and some agency leaders argue that the team can function without unrestricted access to tax records or banking data. A judge has barred access to certain Treasury records, while some courts have decided against intervention at other agencies.

Republican lawmakers, who often express concerns regarding data privacy, appear unfazed, according to Politico, while Democrats are wielding the issue as a critique of the administration.

“It’s not rocket science: an unelected billionaire should NOT have access to your personal financial information,” Representative Mark Pocan, a Democrat from Wisconsin, remarked on X.

  • The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to initiate layoffs of 6,000 recent hires.

  • Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy indicated that a team from SpaceX would provide guidance to the Federal Aviation Administration.

  • Layoffs at the Interior Department expanded to include the termination of probationary employees.

MEANWHILE on X

My colleague Kate Conger, who reports on X, observed that Musk’s feed returned to one of his business ventures today. Here’s more from Kate:

Few matters can interrupt Musk’s current engagement with the federal government. However, the race to develop artificial intelligence occasionally interferes.

This past Saturday, Musk’s private jet departed Washington for California, according to a flight tracking tool, and on Tuesday, he launched the latest iteration of Grok, the AI model being developed at xAI.

He dedicated Wednesday morning to promoting his new creation, sharing images produced by Grok and encouraging his followers to subscribe to X to “experience the world’s smartest AI.”

The buzz surrounding Grok intensifies as Musk maintains pressure on his primary rival in the AI sector, OpenAI. Musk has taken legal action against OpenAI and recently made an attempt to purchase it, though the board rejected that proposal.

Musk joined Trump in criticizing President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, endorsing multiple accounts on X that targeted the Ukrainian leader. Trump and Zelensky have been exchanging jibes over peace negotiations with Russia.

Musk echoed Trump’s remarks, in which the president labeled Zelensky a “dictator,” and he reshared several right-wing influencers who condemned Zelensky for failing to call elections since the Russian invasion in 2022.

— Kate Conger

A FACT CHECK

No.

The Social Security Administration is among the agencies from which Musk’s team seeks extensive data access. This interest stems from Trump officials’ claims that “tens of millions” of dead individuals are purportedly receiving Social Security payments, as stated by Leavitt, the White House press secretary, recently.

Emily Badger and Minho Kim investigated that assertion and determined it likely arises from a misunderstanding of publicly available statistics. Yes, the Social Security database includes millions of Americans who may be deceased but lack official death records. However, these individuals typically do not receive benefits.

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