President Trump presented outgoing adviser Elon Musk with a gold key to the White House on Friday, praising his contributions to the administration.
“Elon gave an incredible service. There’s nobody like him, and he had to go through the slings and the arrows, which is a shame, because he’s an incredible patriot,” Trump said during an Oval Office presser, adding that Americans “appreciate” his work.
During his time as a White House adviser and special government employee, Elon Musk led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in pursuing spending cuts, reductions in the federal workforce, and the closure of certain federal agencies. His efforts sparked nationwide protests from left-wing groups, despite the historically bipartisan support for reducing waste, fraud, and abuse to save taxpayer dollars.
Although Musk served just 130 days, he emphasized that DOGE’s mission will carry on after his departure. “This is not the end of DOGE, but really the beginning,” Musk told reporters.
“The DOGE team will only grow stronger over time. The DOGE influence will only go stronger,” Musk added. “It is permeating throughout the government, and I am confident that, over time, we will see a trillion dollars of savings and a reduction in — a trillion dollars of waste and fraud reduction.”
Last month, Vice President J.D. Vance also noted that DOGE’s work would continue. “DOGE has got a lot of work to do. And yeah, that work is going to continue after Elon leaves,” he told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” in April. “But fundamentally, Elon is going to remain a friend and an adviser of both me and the president.
“And he’s done a lot of good things. People don’t realize how vast and uncontrolled the bureaucracy was,” the vice president continued. “We’ve started to chip away at it, but there’s a lot of work to do. It’s not going to happen all in six months, it’s going to take a long and committed effort.”