The White House stated in a Monday court filing that Elon Musk is a White House employee and a senior adviser to President Trump, but not an employee of DOGE. He also has no decision-making authority.
Musk is only allowed to advise the President and relay the President’s instructions, according to a document signed by Joshua Fisher.
It said, “Mr Musk, like other senior White House advisers, does not have the formal or actual authority to make decisions for himself.”
Fisher’s filing, made in a case brought against Musk by the State of New Mexico, said that Musk was not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service, or the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization, and added: “Mr Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.”
DOGE has been implemented in federal agencies after Donald Trump’s second term began last month. Musk, the CEO of Tesla, is now responsible for rooting out wasteful expenditure as part of a dramatic overhaul that includes thousands of job reductions.