Elon Musk is now claiming that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is not actually behind the firing of thousands of federal workers.
As the de facto leader of DOGE, Musk is responsible for the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce government spending by slashing the federal workforce.
Musk and his army of 20-odd-year-olds have been going from one federal agency to the next firing staff—which in some cases had to be rehired— shutting down agencies created by Congress and even withholding congressionally approved funds.
Recently, Musk threatened to fire any federal employees who did not respond to an Office of Personnel Management email demanding they justify their roles.
Despite this, Musk claimed in a private meeting with Republicans that DOGE is not behind the mass firings of federal employees, instead placing the blame on the heads of the agencies.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) told CNN that Musk said the recently announced elimination of more than 70,000 jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs “wasn’t a DOGE decision.”
Van Orden added that Musk told lawmakers the “individual departments” were involved in plans to cut employees across the federal government, and that DOGE was making the “assumption” that department heads know who is being “unproductive” and would “reward the people that are being productive.”
Musk also privately acknowledged that he made some major blunders and that he “can’t bat a thousand all the time,” four people familiar with his remarks told Politico.
Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) told CNN that Musk promised to correct his mistakes.
“He said, like, you know, there’s going to be mistakes along the way. He has said that publicly before too. And then when those are identified, they will be corrected,” Fry said.
Among DOGE’s main blunders were the firings and subsequent rehiring of staff at the National Nuclear Security Administration who is responsible for overseeing the country’s nuclear stockpile and Department of Agriculture staff working on a response to the H5N1 avian flu outbreak.
