Elon Musk was the center of attention in the Oval Office on Tuesday as he and Donald Trump offered a bizarre and rambling defense of their efforts to dismantle large chunks of the federal government through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The world’s richest man, who donned his “dark MAGA” cap for the occasion, towered over a seated Trump as he fielded questions from reporters.
Musk appeared at ease, his young son perched on his shoulders, as he argued that he and his team of baby-faced henchman are actually promoting transparency and democracy. Critics have accused them of staging a bureaucratic takeover of the federal government.
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“You couldn’t ask for a stronger mandate from the public,” said the unelected tech billionaire, who donated more than $250 million to Trump’s campaign. “The people voted for major government reform.”
Reporters pressed Musk over his potential conflicts of interest as the owner of SpaceX, Tesla, and X, but the DOGE head was adamant that this was a non-issue.
“We actually are trying to be as transparent as possible,” Musk said. “We post our actions to the DOGE handle on X and to the DOGE website. So all of our actions are maximally transparent.”
Over the past two weeks, Musk has leveled sweeping accusations of fraud against the large swaths of the federal bureaucracy, but has offered little evidence to support his claims.
Mostly, it appears the “fraud” Musk has uncovered is federal spending he personally disagrees with.
One particularly striking claim, which was pushed by Trump, was that the administration had “identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas.”
Fact-checks from a number of news organizations indicate that there is no truth in this claim. Pressed about it on Tuesday, Musk—despite the defiant tone he has taken in alleging fraud against the government on social media—admitted he is only human.
“Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected,” Musk said. “Nobody’s gonna bat a thousand. We will make mistakes, but we will act quickly to correct any mistakes.”
That was seemingly the first time that Musk—or anyone in Trump’s administration—had acknowledged that the “condoms for Gaza” claim was incorrect.
Trump’s role in the press conference seemed to be largely in support of Musk.
“I campaigned on this,” the president said at one point. “I campaigned on the fact that I said government is corrupt. And it is very corrupt. It’s also foolish.”
