Elon Musk has given a wide-ranging interview as he prepares to step away from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Newsweek has contacted DOGE for comment via email outside regular working hours.
Why It Matters
Musk is set to step back from his role at DOGE as the government task force continues its mission to reduce the size and spending of the federal government. DOGE-mandated cuts at federal agencies have been met with considerable backlash and legal action.
Soon after his inauguration in January, President Donald Trump designated the billionaire a “special government employee,” allowing him to work a paid or unpaid government job for 130 days each year.
What To Know
Musk’s time at DOGE has been eventful, to say the least, something he discussed in his Fox News interview with Lara Trump, the wife of the president’s son Eric Trump.
“It’s not been boring, that’s for sure—an eventful year to say the least. At least I didn’t get shot, you know. Look on the bright side,” he said in the interview, which aired on May 3.
Musk initially projected that DOGE would cut $2 trillion in federal spending, a figure he later revised down to $1 trillion. In a separate interview with reporters this week, Musk said DOGE so far had saved an estimated $160 billion in federal spending.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/GETTY
Tesla Backlash
Musk’s step back from government also comes after Tesla, his electric vehicle company, suffered a 71 percent plunge in profits during the first quarter of 2025. Dealerships across the U.S. have been targeted in a wave of protests, vandalism and arson attacks.
“We have had people shoot up Tesla stores and burn down Tesla cars. I wasn’t expecting that level of violence really,” he told Lara Trump.
Musk said he believed the actions taken by protesters were because they were recipients of billions in “waste and fraud” and wanted to “keep receiving it.”
According to a May 1 report by The Wall Street Journal, Tesla board members queried several executive search firms to work on a formal process for finding the company’s next chief executive. Tesla has publicly denied the report, and Musk said it was “deliberately false.”
Illegal Immigration
In the interview, Musk also said he believed the president’s electoral victory in November was essential to stopping illegal immigrants from entering the country and voting for Democrats.
“If President Trump had not won, I think the Democrat campaign to import vast numbers of illegal voters would have succeeded,” he said, adding that the U.S. would have become a “one-party state from which we could never escape.” He did not provide evidence of this claim.
Nazi Accusations
Musk has faced accusations of being a Nazi after he twice made a one-armed gesture during a speech to a crowd gathered in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the president’s inauguration.
“It’s a relentless propaganda campaign, which obviously President Trump has experienced for a very long time, 20 years, maybe longer,” he told Lara Trump. “And politics is a blood sport, so they’re going to come up with whatever attacks they can to destroy the public perception of someone.”
Musk continued: “Now, obviously, I’ve not harmed anyone in my life. So it’s an outrageous thing to claim that I’m a Nazi because the issue with Nazis was not their mannerisms or their, you know, choice of dress but the fact that they killed millions of people. That’s the issue.
“They’ve also called President Trump a Nazi, and there was one publication that said he’s … worse than Hitler, Stalin and maybe Mao combined. But he also is not a violent person and, in fact, has done a lot to prevent wars and stop wars, which is the very opposite of being a Nazi.”
What Happens Next
Musk’s tenure in government is set to expire in late May. DOGE is scheduled to sunset on July 4, 2026, according to the executive order the president signed to create it.