White House insists Elon Musk is not in charge at DOGE, but is advising the president

Описание: (18 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, DC - 18 February 2025
1. Karoline Leavitt walks along the White House driveway toward press
++BLACK FRAMES++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary:
"(Reporter: Can you verify what Elon Musk's role is? In a court filing last night, the Trump administration said he has no formal authority to actually make decisions. Can you, I know he's a special government employee, but is he making decisions? How does that process work with him at the helm of DOGE?)
First of all, President Trump is the ultimate decision-maker for this entire administration. Elon Musk, just like everybody else across the federal government, works at the direction of President Trump. Elon Musk is a special government employee, as I have told you before. He serves as a senior advisor to the president, if you will, within the executive office of the president. DOGE has people that again are onboarding as political appointees at every respective agency, and they are working alongside our agency partners and the secretaries that President Trump nominated and have been confirmed by the United States Senate to identify waste, fraud and abuse at these agencies. And that's his role.
(Reporter: But do they have authority? Does he or other employees have agreed to make decisions on some of the firings?)
DOGE does not have statute, statutory authority. We've been very clear about that. Again, DOGE is advising these agencies. It's ultimately up to the discretion of these secretaries to make these hirings and these firings. And again, everybody is working as one team. You've seen some of the secretaries speak out about the cuts that they have made and the way that they are saving American taxpayers dollars. Secretary Rubio talking about the USAID cuts as just one example."
++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary:
"(Reporter: The filing that we were just talking about specifically said that Elon Musk is not the administrator of DOGE. Who is the administrator and is Musk directly consulting with that person?)
Again, I just answered this question about Elon Musk. He is a special government employee within the executive office of the President, and the agencies are directing the cuts of the wasteful spending."
++ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency can’t fire federal employees. Instead, she said, the rash of federal firings are up to the heads of individual agencies.

Asked about a White House court filing saying Elon Musk isn’t DOGE administrator, Leavitt wouldn’t say who is leading DOGE.

She said Musk is “a senior adviser to the president, if you will.”

Pressed on military veterans who were among the federal employees being fired, Leavitt said, Trump “is delivering on the promise he made to the American people to make this government more efficient.”

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