WASHINGTON — Elon Musk is serving in the Trump administration as a “special government employee,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.
“I can confirm he’s a special government employee. I can also confirm that he has abided by all applicable federal laws,” Leavitt said when asked about Musk’s job by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “As for his security clearance, I’m not sure, but I can check back with you.”
Leavitt also said she did not know if Musk’s aides at the Department of Government Efficiency have a security clearance, or if Musk took the oath of office.
So what is a “special government employee”?
Musk’s position means he is not working as neither a volunteer nor a full-time employee. In other words, he is a part-time employee and must work a maximum of 130 days in a calendar year.
Special government employees are asked to follow conflict-of-interest requirements and ethics policies that are usually less strict than those for federal employees.
Last November, then-President-elect Donald Trump named Musk to a new position called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order that gave DOGE a mandate to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity”.
Musk’s SpaceX has won billions in government contracts with the federal government, which Democrats and some Republicans have said is a potential conflict of interest.
Trump said Monday that Musk’s DOGE wouldn’t act without the White House’s approval.
“Elon can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval, and we’ll give him the approval where appropriate; where not appropriate, we won’t,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “He reports in. … But he does have a good natural instinct.”
Musk has attacked foreign aid spending and said in comments in the early hours of Monday that he and Trump are “in the process” of shutting down the agency.
“I think Elon Musk also has a little bit of common sense, and I think the American people really appreciate that when it comes to the federal government, because it seems like all common sense has been lost in this city,” Leavitt said.
